Akash was a class act with white pieces against Mishra in a Ruy Lopez game as he put enormous pressure with his Knight against his rival in the end game to post an emphatic victory in 53 moves and take his tally to 7.5 points.
In other matches, third seed Debashis Das signed peace with N Sanjay of Karnataka, while sixth seed Diptayan Ghosh defeated Himal Gusain of Chandigarh and CRG Krishna of Andhra Pradesh got the better off Atul Dahale of Maharashtra to share the second spot with 6.5 points apiece.
Meanwhile top seed and defending champion Vikramaditya Kulkarni's title hopes diminished further as he surrendered his eighth round match against seasoned International Master Sudhakar Babu of Indian Bank in just 23 moves.
Five more rounds are remaining in this Swiss System championship which will conclude on Monday.
Round 8 results: G Akash of Tamilnadu (7.5) beat IM Swayam Mishra of Orissa (5.5); Sanjay N of Karnataka (6) drew with IM Debashis Das of Odisha (6.5); FM Diptayan Ghosh of West Bengal (6.5) beat Himal Gusain of Chandigarh (5.5); Sohan Phadke of Maharahstra (6) drew with IM Dinesh Sharma of LIC (6); Shahikant Kutwal of Railways (6) drew with IM Murali Krishnan B T of Railways (6); Atul Dahale of Maharashtra (5.5) lost to Krishna CRG of Andhra Pradesh (6.5); IM Sudhakar Babu of Indian Bank (6) beat IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni of Railways (5); IM S Satyapragyan of Air India (5.5) drew with Anurag Mhamal of Goa (5.5). MORE