Himal overcame Badrilal in the fifth round to maintain his winning streak and lead the standings with five points. Earlier in the fourth round, Himal edges past Chhitij Bhandari.Suman Rai of Thapathali Chess Park and Sumit Panta of National Development are joints in second position with 4.5 points each. Suman who won achieved wins in both boards played on Monday, edged past Janardan Shrestha and Kamal Shrestha respectively in the fourth and fifth rounds. Similarly, Sumit beat FIDE Master Manish Hamal and Nabin Tandukar respectively.
Current national champion Keshav Shrestha faced defeat at the hands of Nabin Tandukar and was compelled to share points after draw with Suman Lama. Another top-rated player Bhupendra Niraula was defeated by Bikash Kuluju in the fifth round.
Meanwhile, Badrilal Nepali, Rijendra Rajbhandari, Bikash Kuluju, Sajin Maharjan, Chhitij Bhandari, Rabindra Shakya and Ashish Phuyal has accumulated four points each at the end of the fifth rounds.
Keshav Shrestha, Manish Hamal, Nabin Tandukar, Milan Roka, Kamal Shrestha, Suman Lama and Bharat Dhimal have accumulated 3.5 points each. Similarly, Bhupendra Niraula, Sitaram Agrawal, Lawa Kumar Shrestha, Maniraj Dangi, Bikram Dhoj Shrestha, Abiral Rai, Keshav Manandhar, Ganeshman Duwal, Ranjit Rai, Govinda Khadka, Madan Rayamajhi, Sanjeet Tamang, Prayas Kakshapati, Rabindra Shrestha, Suryasan Prajapati and Gopal Maharjan have three points each.
The sixth and the seventh round matches will be played on Tuesday.
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