Jerusalem: Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler took the early lead at the Jerusalem Masters rapid chess tournament on Sunday, winning all three of his first-day games to top the standings.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the four-day event features five of the world's leading players, five members of Israel's national team, and two qualifiers from last week's Jerusalem Open. The 12 players compete in a round-robin, with the top four advancing to the semifinals.

Svidler, an eight-time Russian classical champion and five-time Chess Olympiad gold medalist, defeated Israel's Maxim Rodshtein and Ido Gorshtein, as well as reigning Russian classical champion Arseniy Nesterov.

Four players sit one point back on two wins apiece: Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi, India's Viswanathan Anand and Arjun Erigaisi, and Nesterov.

The tournament offers total prize money of 166,000 U.S. dollars.