No change in Astrakhan

All seven games were drawn in the third round in the FIDE Grand Prix tournament, so there is no change in the standings.
The same five players share the lead as you'll see below but in such a tight tournament there is plenty of time for an inspired player to turn things round even after a shaky start.

In today's round there were two English openings and two Petroff defences. Overall, play was 'cautious' as one can see by the results!

Game No.	Name	Rating	Result	Name	Rating	Opening
1	Vladimir Akopian	2694	0.5-0.5	Peter Svidler	2735	English opening (A16)
2	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2763	0.5-0.5	Pavel Eljanov	2751	Queen's Gambit Ragozin (D38)
3	Vugar Gashimov	2734	0.5-0.5	Boris Gelfand	2741	Petroff's Defence (C42)
4	Wang Yue	2752	0.5-0.5	Dmitry Jakovenko	2725	Catalan opening (E05)
5	Evgeny Alekseev	2700	0.5-0.5	Vassily Ivanchuk	2741	Petroff's Defence (C42)
6	Ernesto Inarkiev	2669	0.5-0.5	Peter Leko	2735	Spanish (C78)
7	Ruslan Ponomariov	2733	0.5-0.5	Teimour Radjabov	2740	English opening (A11)

Here are the tournament rankings after three rounds.

Ranking	Name	Country	Present Rating	Points
1st-5th	Pavel Eljanov	Ukraine	2751	2
1st-5th	Vugar Gashimov	Azerbaijan	2734	2
1st-5th	Boris Gelfand	Israel	2741	2
1st-5th	Peter Leko	Hungary	2735	2
1st-5th	Ruslan Ponomariov	Ukraine	2733	2
6th-9th	Ernesto Inarkiev	Russia	2669	1.5
6th-9th	Dmitry Jakovenko	Russia	2725	1.5
6th-9th	Teimour Radjabov	Azerbaijan	2740	1.5
6th-9th	Wang Yue	China	2752	1.5
10th-14th	Vladimir Akopian	Armenia	2694	1
10th-14th	Evgeny Alekseev	Russia	2700	1
10th-14th	Vassily Ivanchuk	Ukraine	2741	1
10th-14th	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Azerbaijan	2763	1
10th-14th	Peter Svidler	Russia	2735	1

It's early days but it always helps to get off to a good start and of course any good fortunate comes in handy! For example Leko's win in the second round was on time when there was nothing special for him on the board.

Alekseev unfortunately lost on time in a fairly equal position. @ official site

Of all the players, the only one never to have made it to 2700 (so far!) is Ernesto Inarkiev.

Inarkiev: A solid start for the lowest ranked player. @ official site

The fourth round is tomorrow. If you want to follow the games as they happen or would like further information on this event, then go to the official tournament site.