D P Singh emerges sole leader

Kozhikode, Sep 21 (UNI) Continuing his winning streak, Jharkhand's D P Singh emerged sole leader with seven points while Ram S Krishnan of Tamil Nadu was at second spot with six points after the seventh round of the First International FIDE-rated Open Chess Championship here today.

Singh defeated Naveen S Hegde of Karnataka while Krishnan outsmarted P Jayankur Chougale of Maharashtra in the event held at V K Krishna Menon Indoor Stadium.

R R Laxman (TN), K Ratnakaran (SR), G N Gopal (Ker), O T Anil Kumar (Ker) and S Nitin (TN) were close behind in the third position with 5.5 points each.

Results: (Seventh Round): Naveen S Hedge 5 (Kar) lost to D P Singh 7 (Jhar), R R Laxman 5.5 (TN) drew with O T Anil Kumar 5.5 (Ker), P Jayankur Chougale 5 (Mah) lost to Ram S Krishanan 6 (TN), K Ratnakaran 5.5 (SRly) bt P M Pradeep Kumar 4.5 (Ker), G N Gopal 5.5 (Ker) bt K Narayanan 4.5 (Ker), M B Muraleedharan 5 (Ker) drew with P V Gireesh 5 (Ker), U C Mohanan 5 (Ker) drew with P S Ameer 5 (Ker), T Gowtham 4.5 (AP) lost to S Nitin 5 (TN), Bijoy Kumar 4.5 (Bih) lost to M Vinod Kumar 5 (Ker), Bindu K Saritha 4 (LIC) lost to Nirmal E P 5 (Ker).

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