Vaishali seals title with a round to spare
Vaishali now has 10 points, two points clear of second-placed Tejaswini Sagar of Maharashtra. Bakshi Rutuja of Maharashtra is third with 7.5 points.
It is Vaishali's second national title this year, having won the national under-11 title at Jamshedpur two months ago.
A student of Velmmal School in the city, Vaishali trains with Bloom Chess Academy, Chennai.
In the Open section, N R Visakh of Tamil Nadu, with nine points, kept his lead, as his Maharashtra opponent Abhimanyu Puranik went on to lose his game in 60 moves.
Top seed V R Aravindh Chithambaram kept pace with Visakh, as he defeated Manan Rai of Delhi and moved into 8.5 points.
In crucial final round pairings, N R Visakh (9.0) plays Ritviz Parab (8.0) and V R Aravindh Chithambaram (8.5) plays Harsha Bharathakoti (7.5) respectively. More