Top seed, International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni, and fifth seed Ketan Boricha, both with 6.5 points each, were in joint top position today at the end of round seven of the Rs 1.50 lakh prize money SBI Life All- Maharashtra FIDE Rating Chess Tournament being held here.
Kulkarni defeated overnight joint leader Rajababu Gajengi, from the white-side of English Opening, while Boricha made short work of Aditya Bandekar in just 29 moves of Pirc- Modern defense at the Don Bosco High School, Borivali.
Chirag Satkar, who had held Kulkarni to a draw in round 6, continued his dream run by holding 4th seeded Amardeep Bartakke to a draw from the Black side of French Defense.
Satkar is now jointly holding the 2nd spot with Amardeep Bartakke, Rajesh Gupta, Yash Kapadi, Kashish Jain and Pratik Shenvi.
With three more rounds remaining, a stiff competition is expected from the participants to claim the top honours.
Key results of round 7: Vikramaditya Kulkarni (6.5) bt Rajababu Gajengi (5.5), A Bartakke (6) drew with Chirag Satkar (6), Ketan Boricha (6.5) bt Aditya Bandekar (5.5), Siddhanth Lohia (5.5) drew with Shubham Kumthekar (5.5), Pratik Shenvi (6) bt Harsh Kokitkar (5), Shardul Santosh Wakade (5.5) drew with Abhijit Joglekar (5.5), Nimdia Ridit (5) lost to Rajesh Gupta (6), Dilip Golvankar (5.5) drew with Shreyam Mishra (5.5), Manoj Jain (6) beat Ankur Mahesh Gokhale (5), Ankit Bhattacharya (5) lost to Yash Kapadia (6), Krishna Malay (5.5) drew with Jainam Modi (5).
