IM Vidit Gujrathi continued his good run by maintaining the sole lead of 5.5 points after drawing with FM Urkedal Frode in the U-16 section. In a slav exchange variation Vidit equalised easily with black to hold the game. Earlier in the day he swung into the lead by outplaying compatriot S.P.Sethuraman in the fifth round with precise technique.
IM S.P.Sethurman bounced back in the 6th round by playing a powerful game with the white pieces by sacrificing a pawn for initiative and scored a facile victory against compatriot Debashis Das in the Semi Slav and is trailing Vidit by half a point .
In the U-8 section Delhi lad Vaibhav Suri employing the Sicilian Taimanov variation carved out a fine victory to stay in the lead with 5.5 points . Diptayan Ghosh with 5 points to his credit is trailing Vaibahv Suri and also very much in the run for medal tally after a hard earned victory against Tigran Harutyunian.
In the U-10 section Hetul Shah jumped to the second place with 5 other players after scoring back to back victories in the 5th and 6th rounds . In an English opening he exhibited great positional maturity to score an elegant win against Boldoo Erdenpurev . In the U-14 section Tejas Ravichandran with 4.5 points frittered away an overwhelming position by losing to Yuan Yi
In the U-8 girls Bansi Prathima was on a roll by accounting for Mourad Fatemmah in a slav exchang variation to take her tally to 5 points and is in the joint second slot though Chinese player Chu Ruotong is on full score with 6 points.
In the U-10 girls C.H.Meghna gave a spirited display to outwit Dmochowska and jumped to the third spot with 5 points. Earlier in the fifth round she put it across Alieda De Bruyn.
Goli Lasya playing consistently well is on the joint second spot with 5 points in the U-12 girls section.
Also in the fray are Saranya and Nandhidhaa in U-14 girls, B.Adhiban and Jain Shreyesh Daklia in U-18 section, Mitrabha Guha in the U-8 section,Murali Karthikeyan in U-10,Shardul Gagare in U-12, Mahalakshmi in U-12 girls, Padmini Rout and Rucha Pujari in U-16 girls, Ivana Furtado in the U-10 girls with 4.5 points each respectively.
