LALITPUR: After the completion of the third round, six players shared the top spot at the first Ram Bir Shrestha Memorial FIDE Rating National Chess Tournament here today.

Ganesh Man Duwal, Naveen Tandukar, Shyam Shundar Shrestha, Sajan Pandey, Ratna Byanjankar and Dinesh Shrestha won both their second and third round matches to earn three points on the table. Ganesh defeated Lava Kumar Shrestha and Niraj Niraula, Naveen overcame Bikash Kuluju and Prajwal Raj Rajopadhyaya, Shyam overpowered Laxman Kumar Regmi and Uttam Raj Thapa, Sajan saw off Ilias Ali and Rijendra Raj Bhandari while Ratna edged past Shiromani Bajracharya and Sujendra Prasad Shrestha in their respective rounds.

FIDE Master Manish Hamal, Rabindra Shakya and Dharma Bahadur Lama have 2.5 points to stay joint second. Manish beat Raju Subedi in the second round and drew the third round match with Rabindra who earlier defeated Raju Tamrakar. Dharma held Badri Lal Nepali in the second and sneaked past Babu Raja Maharjan in the third.