He collected 4.5 points after the completion of the fifth round to move ahead of his competitors, GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan and Himanshu Sharma of India, who are second with 4 points. [break]
Timoshenko had to settle for a draw in the fourth round against GM Georg Mohr of Slovenia but managed to check-mate India´s International Master (IM) MR Venkatesh in the next round.
Meanwhile, Iuldachev lost to India´s MR Venkatesh in the fourth round but made a comeback in the fifth round to defeat GM Mohr of Slovenia. Sharma secured victories over Bangladesh´s FIDE Master (FM) Mehdi Hasan and Uzbekistan´s GM Marat Dzhumaev to secure second position so far.
India´s GM Sriram Jha, IM Saptarshi Roy, IM Atanu Lahiri, FM Aksat Khamparia, and Slovenia´s GM Georg Mohr are jointly in the third position with 3.5 points each.
Nepali chess players Keshav Shrestha and Uttam Raj Thapa have gained 3 points each. Shrestha defeated Nepali players in both rounds. He defeated Prem Krishna Maharjan in the fourth round and Prachanda Malakar in the fifth.
Meanwhile, Thapa played a draw with French Woman GM Nino Maisuradze while he defeated Anil Rajbahak. Nepal´s only FM Manish Hamal, who had lost the first three matches, grabbed a double victory on Saturday.
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Timoshenko wins Himalayan chess
