Continuing his winning streak, overnight sole leader Ram Aravind extended his lead to a full point after defeating Prajesh R in the seventh round of the ongoing National Under-11 Open Chess Championship here today.
Playing white side of Queen Pawn opening, Ram did not show any mercy to his state mate rival and secured the full point in just 35 moves to take his tally to seven from as many rounds.
Neelash Saha of West Bengal and Bhavik Bharambe of Maharshtra are at joint second spot with six points after beating Iniyan P of Tamilnadu and Sankarsha Shelke of Maharashtra respectively in the seventh round encounter.
After an eventful seventh round matches, the girl's section got wide open with five players now sharing the lead with six points. Playing safe, overnight sole leader Lakshmi of Tamilnadu signed the peace treaty with Anwesha Mishra of Odisha after 48 moves to be at the top while top seed and World Under-10 Girls champion Priyanka Nutakki joined her after beating team mate Bommini Mounika Akshaya in the seventh round battle.
Local hope second seed Vantika Agrawal came back strongly after her last round debacle as she crushed Odisha girl Salonika Saina in just 22 moves while Samriddhaa Ghosh of West Bengal and Divya Deshmukh of Maharashtra defeated Goan girls Krystal Fernandes and Swera Ana Braganca respectively to give company to the leaders.
In the crucial eighth round tomorrow, Priyanka takes on Vantika while Lakshmi faces Divya and Samriddhaa will fight it out against Anwesha Mishra.
