Kolkata, March 20 (IANS): International Master Swapnil Dhopade joined top seed Grandmaster M Nigel Short and GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly at the top of the table with 4.5 points after the fifth round of LIC International Grandmasters Chess Tournament at ICCR on Friday.

The grandmasters meet, which will continue till March 24 is organised by Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and Allsport Foundation.

Dhopade, who already has 5 GM norms to his credit, outplayed GM Kovalev Vladislav of Belarus in a sharp four pawns attack in a King's Indian defence .

Playing white, he won two pawns in a minor piece ending after which he had little difficulty in forcing a win. Swapnil, representing the Railways, has a rating of 2450 and will achieve the GM title when his rating touches Elo of 2500.

Englishman Short tried frantically to squeeze out a win from a sterile position in a knight ending, against city-based GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, but the latter defended with precision to hold the position after which peace treaty was signed in 57 moves.

On the 2nd board, the Indian Grandmasters M.R. Lalith Babu and Deepan Chakkravarthy were content to retain their positions near the top by repetition of moves in 25 moves.

IM Argyadip Das succumbed to GM Dimitry Kokarev of Belarus in a king and pawn ending which arose after exchange of the pieces in a Sicilian defence. Arghydip allowed his opponent to penetrate his queensidte after which it was curtains for him.

Narayan Srinath of India handled the Ruy Lopez opening well against the Cuban grandmaster Quesada Perez Yuniesky to force a draw while IM Swayams Mishra held GM Deep Sengupta in a knight ending with the black pieces.

GM Abdulla Al-Rakib blundered a rook in severe time pressure against IM Shardul Gagare in a queen's pawn opening and lost.