Isle of Man: Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta fought hard to beat Israel’s Radoslaw Jedynak for his second successive victory, to be tied for a five-way lead, in the Poker Masters Isle of Man International chess tournament, in progress here.

On what turned out to be a tough day for the former world junior champion from India, Jedynak simply did not give up and tried hard to make it a tough game for Gupta. The Indian had to rely on his endgame skills to turn the tide in his favour, when the game looked decidedly headed for a draw.

With two points from as many games, Gupta shares the lead with world No. 13 Maxime Vachier Lagrave of France, Sergei Tiviakov of Holland, Daniel Gormally of England and Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany.

The other Indian in fray, D Harika, was held to a draw by Jonathan Bakalchuk of Israel leaving her tied sixth with seven rounds still remaining in the £18,000 prize money tournament.

After a first-round lull, it was a tough day for fancied players. At the top table, world No. 12 and highest rated Michael Adams of England was held to a draw by Israeli Danny Raznikov while Popilski got the same result against Sargissian.

Paehtz registered one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far defeating a wayward Gawain Jones and Daniel Gormally. (PTI)