Swati, Soumya march ahead

Swati Ghate and Soumya Swaminathan retained their positions at the top of the leaderboard with contrasting victories in the fourth round of the 42nd Women's National Premier Chess Championship here today.

While PSCB's Soumya prevailed over Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa, LIC's Swati was a little lucky to have won her game from an inferior position from the Italian defence.

Both Swati and Soumya now have 3.5 points each from four rounds.

After her reversal against Pratyusha yesterday, defending champion bounced back into reckoning with a 17-move win against Bihar's Neha Singh, who suffered her fourth successive defeat.

Tania Sachdev of Air India secured a hard fought win over K Priyanka of Tamil Nadu in a battle lasting 82 moves.