Grand Master Ziaur Rahman maintained his lead in the Walton International Rating Chess Tournament, securing 7.5 points after the eighth and penultimate round of matches held at the Bangladesh Chess Federation in Dhaka on April 10.
FM Mohammad Javed remained in the second spot with 7 points.
IM Mohammad Minhaz Uddin, FM FM Tahsin Tajwar Zia and CM Manon Reja Neer shared the third spot with 6.5 points each.
FM Mehdi Hasan Parag, FM Khandaker Aminul Islam, CM Nayem Haque, CM Md Sharif Hossain, WFM Noshin Anjum, Md Masum Hossain, Jabed Al Azad, Reasat-E-Noor and WCM Ahmed Walijah remained in the fourth position after earning 6 points each.
Ziaur beat Nayem, FM Mohammad Javed beat Mehdi, FM Tahsin Tajwar Zia beat Md Sagor, CM Manon Reja Neer beat FM Syed Mahfuzur Rahman, IM Mohammad Minhaz Uddin beat Md Abu Hanif, and FM Khandaker Aminul Islam drew with FM Subrota Bisawa in today's matches.
Meanwhile, Sharif beat Abdul Momin, Masum beat Nurul Islam, Noshin beat CM Jamal Uddin, Jabed beat SK Rashedul Hasan, Reasat beat Tutul Dhar, and Walijah beat Sabyasachi Mandal.
The ninth and the last round matches will be held on today from 2pm at the same venue.
