Sharan takes sole lead in boys' section

There was a two-way tie at the top in the girls’ category, Sharanya V from Bangalore and Mysore’s Tulsi M on four points each from four rounds.Sharan outwitted Vibhuv Reddy in the fifth round to shoot into the lead, while on the top board, Arjun Bharat of Bangalore and Yashaskara Jois of Mysore drew their game to lie second, half a point behind. On the sixth board, Fayzan Rauf of Bangalore beat rated player Prakhyath KC (1310) of Shimoga.
In girls’ action, Tulsi edged out Manasa HR, also of Mysore, in the fourth round while Sharanya was too good for Hanan Rauf of Bangalore.

Panchami Shenoy K scored a convincing win over Swathi Bhat K M while Sheethal N S went down to Akshatha R in the other matches.

Important results: Boys, fifth round: Yashaskara R Jois (4.5) drew CM Arjun Bharat (4.5); Sharan Rao (5) bt Vibhuv Reddy (4); Anantharam RU (4) bt Shashwat S Mudenagudi (3.5); Sujith Ramesh (4) bt Daniel Marc D'Souza (3); Chirag K Chitpady (3) lt to Vivekraj (4); Prakhyath KC (3) lt to Fayzan Rouf (4); Nikhilesh M (4) bt Abid Ali Mujawar (3); Amogh Narayan (4) bt Sreevathsa DN (3); Anuthama A (3) lt to Ojas Kulkarni (4); Shravan Kumar Y (3) lt to Arjun Adappa (4).

Girls, fourth round: Tulsi M (4) bt Manasa HR (3); Sharanya V (4) bt Hanan Rouf (2); Panchami Shenoy K (3) bt Swathi Bhat KM (2); Sheethal NS (2) lt to Akshatha R (3); Swathi K Bhat (2) lt to Ojasi Gopikrishna (3).