B. Kumaran defeated A.I. Muthaiah to move into joint lead in the open category along with M. Ibrahim Dusthageer, D.S. Shashaank and R. Arun Karthik at the Tamil Nadu State U-25 chess championship here.
The results (fifth round):
Open: M. Ibrahim Dusthageer (4.5) drew with D. S. Shashaank (4.5); R. Arun Karthik (4.5) bt M. Aadhityaa (3.5); B. Kumaran (4.5) bt A.I. Muthaiah (3.5); S. Prasannaa (4) bt Hemanth Raam (3.5); Aniruddh Aiyengar (4) bt S. Anand Raj (3).
Women: V. Shvetha (5) bt M. Sandya (3); R. Manjula (4) bt P. Bala Kannamma (3); V. Varshini(4) bt R. Divya Lakshmi (3); K. Saroja (3.5) bt N. Hema Priya (2.5); G. Sushmitha (3.5) bt P. Thamaraiselvi (2).