Fourth seeded Arnav Kherdekar and 10th seed Aayush Shirodkar broke away from the rest of the field by registering five consecutive wins in as many rounds of the All India FIDE Rating Chess Tournament, here on Monday. Playing on board 2, Arnav defeated Shanmukha Pulli from the black side while Aayush beat sixth seeded Guru Prakash, and have now emerged favourites to win the title.
Meanwhile, on the top board, seventh seeded Yohan Boricha created a bit of a flutter by holding second seed Sauravh Khherdekar to a draw. Both these players now are in joint second place with a score of 4.5, and they were joined by top seeded International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni and youngster Ishan Tendolkar.
A group of 12 players are occupying the third spot with a score of 4/5, which includes nine-year-old Nirvaan Shah, who got the better of fifth seeded Sanjeev Mishra.