Calcutta: Indian Grandmasters Sahaj Grover and Vidit Gujrathi played out an exciting draw as five players shared the joint lead at the end of the third round of the ongoing World Junior Chess Championship, in Pune on Wednesday.

It was a head-on match between two Indian stars and the game witnessed forgotten preparation, fierce tactics and some incredible defence before the players decided to sign truce.

With 10 rounds still to come in the premier event for players under-20, Chinese duo of Wei Yi and Lu Shanglei, Jorge Cori of Peru, Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus and former under-18 world champion Idani Pouya of Iran share the lead with a perfect score of three points.

Not far behind are Grover and Gujrathi, who inched themselves up to 2.5 points to join the next group of players which also include the third Indian GM Ankit Rajpara and S L Narayanan apart from many others.

The reigning under-10 world champion Nihal Sarin continued with his good form as he drew with Csonka Balazs of Hungary for another excellent result.

In the girls’ section being played simultaneously, India’s best bet Padmini Rout was held to a draw by compatriot Ivana Maria Furtado.

Ivanna played a solid game with white pieces and there was little that Padmini could do despite trying.

It’s a two-way lead in this section and the honours are shared by the Russian duo of Daria Pustovoitova and Aysa Imeeva.