KATHMANDU, March 21: Bangladeshi GM Rahman Ziaur and FM Hasan Mehdi are jointly on top of the table with 2.5 points each after completion of the third round of the ongoing Asian Zonal 3.2 Chess Championship being held in Kathmandu.
Ziaur, rated 2520, played a draw against his countryman 2492-rated Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib.
Similarly, 2263-rated Mehdi defeated Nepal's Aashish Phuyal who is rated 1801.
Kshitiz Bhandari of Nepal rated 2036 kept his unbeaten streak as he held Bangladeshi GM Murshed Niaz rated 2422 to a draw. Both of them have two points each.
In other matches, Nepal's 2077-rated CM Keshav Shrestha and Sumit Panta rated 1935 played a draw while the match between another FM Manish Hamal and 2341-rated FM Rahman Md Taibur of Bangladesh also ended in a draw.
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