A.R. Ilamparthy (Tamil Nadu), Sandip Nagare (Maharashtra) and Veny Akkarakaran (Kerala) shared the lead with 6.5 points after seven rounds of the National under-14 online rapid chess tournament on Thursday.
With 22 players following the leaders at six points, and four rounds to go, the title-race is wide open.
After Ilamparthy and Akkarakaran drew their seventh-round game on the top board, Nagare defeated Alekhya Mukhopadhyay to emerge as the only winner from the first seven boards.