Indian International chess Master Nitin Senthilvel settled for a draw with compatriot and fellow IM Ravichandran Siddharth in the ninth round lead to stay on top of the standings with 8 points in the 13th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess Tournament here on Saturday.

The draw in the top board saw Nitin’s lead being cut to half a point as GM Boris Savchenko (Russia), Alexei Federov (Belarus), Aronyak Ghosh, Him all Gusain (both India) moved to 7.5 points.