Kantilal emerges solitary leader

Dave outwitted Gowtham T of Andhra Pradesh in 35 moves for his seventh consecutive victory and open up a half-point lead over Assam’s Trailokya Nanda.A host of players, including Gowtham, lie in third place on six points, a point behind the leader.

Results (seventh round): T Gowtham (AP, 6) lt to Kantilal Dave (Raj, 7); J Malleswara Rao (AP, 6) drew Aravindh Chithambaram (TN, 6); Trailokya Nanda(Asm, 6.5) Vardaraj Srikar (Kar, 5.5); D Lakshmanrao (AP, 6) drew Vinayak Kulkarni (Kar, 6); Anjan Mallick (WB, 6) bt M Siddarth (TN, 5); PP Prachura (Kar, 6); bt Rajib Dhar (Asm, 5); Darpan Inani (Guj, 5.5) drew S Rishpal Singh (Andhra Bank, 5.5); S Raghavendra (Kar, 5.5) drew A Augustin (Kar, 5.5); JK Gautam (Kar, 6) Gopal Ashok Rathod (Mah, 5); YG Vijendra (Kar, 6) bt Binayak Rath (Ori, 5); Sameer Ghotane (Kar, 5.5) drew Lakshmi Sandeep Naidu V (AP, 5.5); A Balkishan (Kar, 6) Sharan Rao (Kar, 5); V Pranavananda (AP, 5) lt to Rahul Shandhilya (Kar, 6); N Ramesh Kumar (TN, 5.5) drew Vignesh NR (TN, 5.5); Ramakrishna Perumalla (AP, 6) bt Ravindra Raju (AP, 5); Manish Joshi (WR, 5) drew V Vinod (Kar, 5.5); Rupankar Nath (WB, 5) drew Atharva Godbole (Mah, 5); S Yogit (TN, 5.5) bt R Upadhayay (SSCB, 4.5); M Paramasivam (TN, 5.5) bt Akshay Bharadwaj (Kar, 4.5); V Raghavendra (Kar, 4.5) lt to BR Aravinda (Kar, 5.5).