Padmini Rout battled hard for 75 moves to down out-of-form Swati Ghate and maintained her half-point lead after six rounds of the National women chess championship here on Thursday.
The unbeaten second seed now has five points. Bhakti Kulkarni (4.5) stayed in the second spot following her expected victory over V. Varshini. Top seeded defending champion Mary Ann Gomes and S. Vijayalakshmi drew their crucial game in 44 moves to reach four points. Nisha Mohota joined the duo in the third spot after handing out to Hinduja Reddy her fifth loss in succession.
After a day's rest, the seventh round will be played on Saturday.
The results: Sixth round: Lakshmi Praneetha (3) lost to Ivana Furtado (3.5); Pratyusha Bodda (3) drew with Nimmy George (3.5); Nisha Mohota (4) bt Hinduja Reddy (0); V. Varshini (1) lost to Bhakti Kulkarni (4.5); Mary Ann Gomes (4) drew with S. Vijayalakshmi (4); Swati Ghate (0.5) lost to Padmini Rout (5).
