Kolkata, Sep 3 - Local Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda shot into the lead alongside four other Grandmasters with three points after the third round of the 4th Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess tournament here Thursday.

GM's Nigel Short of England, Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan, Magesh Chandran of India and Bangladesh's Enamul Hossain are the others in pole position.

Short won another good game with white pieces against Georgian GM Merab Gagunashvili (2) at the Gorky Sadan. The Caro Kan defence employed by the Georgian proved inadequate and Short used a wicked pawn against his opponent's king to eventually win the game on the 40th move.

Safarli stopped the winning streak of International Master Himanshu Sharma (2), who had accounted for GM Viktor Laznicka (2634) of the Czech Republic in the second round Wednesday.

The Indian IM was on the defensive from the onset with his Sicilian defence, and his exposed king was close to being check mated when he threw in the towel after the 26th move.

Chanda used his white pieces effectively to crush GM Rustam Khusnutdinov (2) in a Queens Gambit accepted game. The Indian GM won his opponent's queen for a rook and a minor piece and used his material advantage to eventually pocket the full point.

Chandran was a lucky victor against GM Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan. He had two knights against the King and pawn of his opponent but still managed to win a theoretically drawn position when the Azerbaijian GM lost his way in time pressure.

Indian GMs Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Abhijit Kunte split point with Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh and Belgian Vadim Malakhatko respectively.

Important results:-

GM Nigel Short (3) beat GM Merab Gagunashvili(2)

GM Ziaur Rahman(2.