India's R Vaishali is in second spot with 5.5 points at the end of seven rounds in the Asian Chess Championship being held at Chengdu, China.
The Chennai-based Woman International Master (WIM) (FIDE rating of 2271) beat Vietnam's Pham Le Thao Nguyen in the seventh round today to climb to second place, behind Vo Thi Kim Phung (6 points).
She will face Vietnamese Phung in the eighth round to be played tomorrow.
Among the other Indians, WGM Mary Ann Gomes is placed fourth with five points while Padmini Rout (5 points) and P V Nandidhaa (4.5 points) occupy the seventh and ninth spots respectively, according to information received here.
In the open event, Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi, SP Sethuraman and B Adhiban with five points each are placed in the fourth to ninth bracket. Aravindh Chithambaram Vr, with 4.5 points is in 10th place.
In the eighth round, Gujrathi and Sethuraman posted wins over Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and Zhu Yi (China) respectively. Sethuraman drew his game with compatriot Surya Shekhar Ganguly.
Two more rounds remain to be played in the tournament, which would be followed by a Blitz championship on 21 May.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
