Top seed Shyam Nikil recorded yet another draw to help five other players join him on top of the leaderboard with 5.5 points after the seventh round of the Dhanalakshmi College of Engg 23rd National Youth (Under-25) Championship, here today.
Shyam was caught in the lead by International Masters Nitin Senthilvel and T U Navin Kanna along with B Kumaran, S Ganesh Babu and M Eashwar (all from Tamil Nadu) respectively.
Nine other players remained half a point behind the leaders at including International Master VAV Rajesh.
Two rounds are still to go in this nine-round Swiss event.
Results after round 7: Kumaran B (5.5) drew with Ganesh Babu S (5.5), Shyam Nikil P (5.5) drew with Rajesh VAV (5.5), Hemant Sharma (5) drew with Nitin Senthilvel (5.5), Bavankumar (4.5) lost to Navin Kanna T U (5.5), Krishna Teja N (5) drew with Pranav Vijay (5), Dahale Atul (4.5) lost to Eashwar M (5.5).
