Pujari in sole lead, Bhakti held

Margao: Women Fide Master(WFM) Rucha Pujari of Maharashtra defeated WFM cof Tamil Nadu to occupy the sole leader at the end of the fifth round in the 41st National Junior (U-19 ) Open and 26th Junior (U-19) Girls Chess Championship 2011 at Indoor Sports Hall, Margao.

Pujari got the better of Nknithika in just 29 moves to top the leaderboard with five points. Nandhidhaa P V of Tamil Nadu beat Pratusha Bordda of Andhra Pradesh to be placed second with 4.5 points, while Goa`s chess queen, Bhakti Kulkarni dropped a point after she was held to a draw by her junior colleague Ivana Furtado. They both are on four points along with A Akshya of Tamil Nadu, Pallabi Roy of West Bengal and WFM Sai Nirpama of Andhra Pradesh. PTI