Indian GM Gujrathi climbs to top spot in Asian chess tourney

Indian Grand Master Vidit S Gujrathi with six points after eight rounds moved into the top spot in the open section of the Asian Chess Championship at Chengdu, China, today.
In the eighth round, Gujrathi, with an ELO rating of 2687, scored a 40-move win over Chinese GM Jinshi Bai to move to the top.
Four other players are also on six points including three GMs from China.
Among the other Indians, S P Sethuraman and Aravind Chithambaram are placed 10th and 11th with five points. B Adhiban is in 15th spot while his Tamil Nadu teammate Karthikeyan Murali occupies the 16th place.

In the women's event, R Vaishali, who had moved to second spot on Thursday, slid to fourth, after losing to the leader Thi Kim Phung Vo of Vietnam. She is on 5.5 points.
Vo, with seven points is half-a-point ahead of her nearest rival, Guliskhan Nakhbayeva (Uzbekistan) at the end of eight rounds.
Another Indian Mary Ann Gomes (5.5 points) climbed to the third spot after a draw with Vietnamese Le Thao Nguyen Pham.
One more round remains to be played in the tournament.