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Mumbai, July 5: Kiran Manisha Mohanty of Orissa won her fifth round match easily, while her state mate Saina Salonika played out a draw in the 42nd National Women’s Challenger chess tournament here Sunday. Kiran Manisha outwitted Isha Sharma and Saina forced Bala Kannamm to share points with her.
Woman Fide Master R Vaishali jumped ahead of the rest to take the sole lead. The Tamil Nadu player shocked Woman Grand Master Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa.
On the top board, WIM Michelle P Catherina, also from Tamil Nadu, continued her good form to hold IM Nisha Mohota for a draw. IM Tania Sachdev of Air India, after two consecutive draws, could finally muster a win over WFM Srija Seshadri. WGM Soumya Swaminathan of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board had another bad day losing to Priyanka Nutakki of Andhra Pradesh.
At the end of five rounds, WFM Vaishali is leading with five points followed by IM Nisha Mohota, Nimmy AG and Michelle Catherina, all with 4.5 points each.
