Woman Grandmaster Swati Ghate (LIC) stunned top seed IM Eesha Karavade (PSPB) and moved into joint lead with 4.5 points after the fifth round of the 43rd National Women Challengers Chess Championship at Nehru Stadium here today.
Swati shares the top spot with second seed IM Vijayalakshmi S (Air India), WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) and WIM Vaishali R (TN) respectively.
Following the leaders half a point behind at 4.0 points were nine players including WGMs Mary Ann Gomes and Kiran Manisha Mohanty, among others.
The top board board game between Soumya and Vaishali turned out to be quick 21 move draw, as Vaishali caught Soumya unawares in perpetual queen attack. In the game of the day, Swati Ghate brought down top seed IM Eesha Karavade in an attacking French game.
With six more rounds to go, there is still a lot to play for. The interesting pairings of the next round pits Vijayalakshmi against Soumya, while Vaishali takes on Swati.
Important Results (Round 5) Soumya Swaminathan (4.5) drew with Vaishali R (4.5), Swati Ghate (4.5) bt Karavade Eesha (3.5), Michelle Catherina P (3.5) lost to Vijayalakshmi S (4.5), Gomes Mary Ann (4) drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty (4), Bala Kannamma P (4) bt Pratyusha Bodda (3), Divya Lakshmi R (3.5) drew with Mohota Nisha (3.5), Mahalakshmi M (4) bt Priyanka Kumari (3), Sunyuktha C M N (3) lost to Srija Seshadri (4), Nandhidhaa P V (3.5) drew with Chitlange Sakshi (3.5), Nisha N Patkar (3) lost to Lasya G (4).
