Yalta (Ukraine): GM Krishnan Sasikiran played out a hard-fought draw with Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine to rise to the joint fourth spot after the fourth round of Aerosvit International Chess Tournament here.

After starting out with a victory over Alexander Onischuk of the US in the opener, this was Sasikiran’s second draw on the trot following a loss to Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia in the second round.

Sasikiran opted for the Grunfeld defence and went for a variation that came in to fashion recently. Eljanov was apparently not prepared for what he faced and his shying-away from routine manoeuvres gave Sasikiran an easy game.

However, as the game progressed, Eljanov got a semblance of advantage again but Sasikiran managed to deal with the problems without much ado. The peace was signed after 57 moves.

The result propelled the Indian to joint fourth spot from joint fifth overnight as one of the leaders Jakovenko found his nemesis in Loek van Wely of Holland.

The day produced just one decisive result with Van Wely standing out tall for the second day running. After two disastrous losses the Dutchman coasted to another victory in style in what was clearly the game of the day.

With draws being the order of the day, Alexei Shirov of Spain and Ukrainian duo of Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin remained in joint lead with 2.5 points to back them.

Sasikiran was next in the standings along with Van Wely, Onischuk, Eljanov, Jakovenko, Peter Svidler of Russia and Lenier Dominiguez of Cuba on two points. (PTI)