Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran joined overnight leaders Pendyala Harikrishna and Dibyendu Barua on 4.5 points to lead the table after the sixth round in the National 'A' chess championship in Mumbai on Tuesday.
In the women's section, Women's International Master Nisha Mohota emerged sole leader with 3.5 points after four rounds.
In the fourth round, Nisha accounted for WIM Swati Ghate in 33 moves.
Sasikiran, who had a bye yesterday, outplayed IM Tejas Bakre with brilliant display of skill and accuracy. Sasi played Kings Indian attack game with white pieces. In the middle game, he sacrificed a pawn to gain a better position but later he derived a combination and managed to get his pawn back.
During this intense battle, Sasi emerged with better a position and finally struck a blow with his 47th move that sealed Bakre's fate.
In another game, IM Sriram Jha held GM Abhijit Kunte to a well-earned draw. Playing white, Jha opened with 'd4' for which Kunte adopted the Queen's Indian defence. The game continued till 13th move when both players agreed to a draw.
Kunte is now placed second with four points and is closely following the leaders.
On the other board, the Nimzo-Indian game between IM S Kidambi and M R Venkatesh lasted only 15 moves before they too decided to split the point.
The game between IM G B Prakash and Saptarshi Roy also ended in a tame draw after 42 moves.
