Tamil Nadu's Pon N. Krithika, the 10th seed, upset top-seeded Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa in the girls' ninth round of the 41st National junior chess championship in Margao on Monday.
Krithika now joins second-seeded Rucha Pujari of Maharashtra in the lead with 7.5 points after nine rounds, while overnight leader Bhakti fell to the third spot.
In the open section, Tamil Nadu's P. Shyam Nikhil, the second seed, was forced to a draw by West Bengal's Diptayan Ghosh. Shyam, the overnight leader, now shares the top spot with his Statemate Aravindh Chithambaram.
The results (ninth round):
Open: P. Shyam Nikhil (TN, 7.5) drew with Diptayan Ghosh (WB, 7), Aravindh Chithambaram (TN, 7.5) bt Rakesh Kulkarni (Mah, 6.5), S. Nitin (TN, 7) drew with K. Priyadharshan (TN, 6.5), P. Lokesh (TN, 6) lost to R. Ramnath Bhuvanesh (TN, 7), S.L. Narayanan (Ker, 6.5) drew with Ankit R. Rajpara (Guj, 6.5), Anwesh Upadhyaya (Ori, 6.5) bt Murali Karthikeyan (TN, 5.5), Padmini Rout (Ori, 6.5) bt Nishant Malhotra (Del, 5.5), M.L. Abhilash Reddy (AP, 5.5) lost to Swayams Mishra (Ori, 6.5), Navalgund Niranjan (TN, 6) drew with Hemant Sharma (Del, 6), Pratik Patil (Mah, 5.5) lost to Saumil Padhya (Mah, 6.5).
Girls: Pon N. Krithika (TN, 7.5) bt Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa, 7), Rucha Pujari (Mah, 7.5) bt Pratyusha Bodda (AP, 6), A. Akshaya (TN, 6.5) drew with Ivana Maria Furtado (Goa, 6.5), Aparajita Gochhikar (Ori, 5.5) lost to R. Bharathi (TN, 6.5), J. Saranya (TN, 5.5) lost to Pallabi Roy (WB, 6.5).
P.V. Nandhidhaa (TN, 6.5) bt G. Lasya (AP, 5.5), K. Sai Nirupama (AP, 6.5) bt P. Michelle Catherine (TN, 5.5), P. Bala Kannamma (TN, 5.5) lost to Arunima Kalra (Del, 6.5), Meenu Priya (TN, 6.5) bt Pavitra Jagtap (Kar, 5), R. Visalatchi (TN, 6) bt Arunima Goyal (Chd, 5).
