Vaishali opens up two-point lead with 9th consecutive win

With her win against Shweta Priyadarshini of UP, Vaishali has extended her lead over her nearest rivals Shiny Das (Tripura), Tejaswini Sagar (Maharashtra) and S Ananya (Karnataka) by two points.

Vaishali employed the Ruy Lopez game saw Vaishali excel in the middle game. Shweta gave up on the 30th move. Vaishali would need a draw tomorrow to confirm the title.

In the Open section, N R Visakh of Tamil Nadu held his his statemate Pranav Vijay to now lead with 8 points. Half a point behind Visakh were N R Aravindh Chithambaram and Pranav Vijay (both TN).

Top seed Aravindh Chithambaram made amends for his loss yesterday, defeating Aradhya Garg of Delhi. More