Kerala sub-junior champion Sujeesh, a 10th standard student of Kathiroor Govt Higher Secondary School, Thalassery and Yashpal shared the lead with four points each after their shock defeats of third seed Aditya Vikram (UP) and fifth seed Saptarshi Roy of Goodricke National Chess Academy, Calcutta respectively.

Facing the Queen's Indian Defence, Sujeesh won an exchange and increased his gains by a piece 10 moves later and ultimately Queen. Yashpal faced the Dutch Defence from Saptarshi and won in 64 moves.

Top seed Valay Parikh (Gujarat) conceded a draw to Yambem Singh (Manipur) in 71 moves of Caro-Kann Defence.

In another upset, Rakesh Agarwal (Bihar) crushed fourth seed Abhijit Gupta's Sicilian Defence in 36 moves.

In the girls' section, favourites Y Pratibha and J EKavitha of TN, meeting each other on the top board, settled for a draw in 53 moves of French Defence, thus leaving the lead in the hands of P Priya of T Nagar Academy. Priya totalled four points after her fourth round victory over ninth seed M Rajadarshini (TN) in 27 moves of Caro-Kann Defence.

TOPBOARD RESULTS

BOYS: Yambem Singh (Mani) 3.5 drew with Valay Parikh (Guj) 3.5; Sujeesh (Ker) 4 bt Aditya Vikram (UP) 3; Yashpal Singh (MP) 4 bt Saptarshi Roy (GNCA) 3; Rahul Sangma (Bih) 2.5 lost to Somak Palit (GNCA) 3.5;R Naveen (Capa) 3 drew with Omkar Patwardhan (Mah) 3; Rakesh Agarwal (Bih) 3.5 bt Abihit Gupta (Raj) 2; Sayantan Dutta (GNCA) 2.5 drew with Ranvir Singh Bhatti (MP) 2.5; R Sidharth (Capa) 3 bt Aswin Swaminathan (Guj) 2; Haribalu (T Nagar) 3 bt Adway Choudhury (WB) 2; Soumya Ranjan Mishra (Ori) 2 lost to Narasimhan (T Nagar) 3; Deepan Chakravarthy (TN) 3 Paraga Thewadkar (Mah) 2; Sagar Masurekar (Mah) 2 lost to Byomakesh Naik (Ori) 3; Seetharam Reddy (AP) 2 lost to Phoobalan (TN)3.

GIRLS: JE Kavitha (TN) 3.5 drew with Y Prathibha (TN) 3.5; P Priya (T Nagar) 4 bt M Rajadarshini (TN) 2.5; Neenu George (Ker) 3 drew with Malarselvi (TN) 3; Eesha Karvande (Mah) 3.5 bt Aswathy Balagopal (Ker) 2.5; H Nilavoli (TN) 2.5 lost to Baisakhi Das (WB) 3.5; Anuradha Padhiary (Ori) 2 lost to Shradha Samani (Mah) 3; Kruthika Nadig (Mah) 3 bt R Mahima (TN) 2; Priyanka Kale (Kar) 2 lost to Amrutha Mokal (Mah) 3; K Preethi (Capa) 2 lost to Priya (Bih) 3; Anuprita Anil Patil (Mah) 2 lost to Pooja R (Kar) 3; M Akila (TN) 2 lost to Saheli Nath (WN) 3; Krishna Manjush (AP) 2 lost to Nimmy George (Ker) 3; Pannaga Magal (Mah) 3 bt P Sumathi (TN) 2; Rucha Karvande (Mah) 3 bt Thelma Gopal (Ker) 1.5; Nabeela Farheen (TN) 2.5 bt M Priyadarshini (TN) 1.5; M Kasthuri (TN) 1.5 lost to Madhuri Patil (Mah) 2.5; Jaya Arunmathi (TN) 2 drew with Aravinda Lochanai (AP) 2; N Sandhya (Ker) 2 bt Isaimudhu (TN) 1.