Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran played out a hard-fought draw with Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine to move up to the tied fourth spot after the fourth round of the Aerosvit International chess tournament here. This was Sasikiran’s second straight draw.
   The Indian ace opted for the Grunfeld defence with black pieces and went for a variation. Eljanov was apparently not prepared for what he faced and avoided routine manoeuvres which gave Sasikiran an easy game.
   However, as the game progressed, Eljanov got a semblance of advantage again but Sasikiran overcame the minor hiccup without much ado. An exchange sequence led to a rook and pawns endgame and peace was signed after 57 moves.
   The result propelled the Indian from overnight fifth to joint fourth spot.
   The day produced just one decisive result with Loek van Wely standing out tall for the second day running. After two disastrous losses, the Dutchman coasted to another victory in style, defeating Dmitry Jakovenko in what was clearly the game of the day.
   With draws being the order of the day on the remaining five boards, Alexei Shirov of Spain and Ukrainian duo of Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin remained in joint lead with 2.5 points apiece.
   Sasikiran was next in the standings along with van Wely, Onischuk, Eljanov, Jakovenko, Peter Svidler of Russia and Lenier Dominiguez of Cuba on two points while Sergei Rublevsky of Russia was 11th with 1.5 points, half-a-point clear of Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania. 

Results (round four): Alexei Shirov (Esp, 2.5) drew Peter Svidler (Rus, 2); Vassily Ivanchuk (UKr, 2.5) drew Alexander Onischuk (US, 2); Loek van Wely (Ned, 2) bt Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus, 2); Lenier Dominguez (Cub, 2) drew Sergey Karjakin (UKr, 2.5); Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 2) drew Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 2); Sergei Rublevsky (Rus, 1.5) drew Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 1).