New Delhi: GM-norm holder Abhijit Gupta of Bharat Petroleum shot into the sole lead with a finely crafted victory over Women GM D. Harika of Andhra Pradesh in the sixth round of the Parsvnath 35th National Junior Chess Championship on Sunday.

Abhijeet, with five wins and a draw, took his tally to 5.5 points out of a possible six for a slender half-point lead over his nearest seven contenders.

In the 21st edition of girls’ meet, defending champion Soumya Swaminathan of Maharashtra maintained her half point lead after drawing with Kruttika Nadig of Karnataka.

Soumya (5.5) drew with the second seed to be half a point adrift of top seed Mary Ann Gomes of Bengal, Padmini Rout of Orissa and Nadig (all 5 points). Bengal’s Saheli Nath went down to Rout. (Pti)