Along with Hamal, former national champion Nabin Tandukar, Ganesh Man Duwal, Rajan Puri, Rijendra Rajbhandari and Shyam Sundar Shrestha have also scored six points apiece after the sixth and seventh round matches on Thursday.[break]
Hamal defeated Madan Krishna Kayastha in the sixth round and shared points with Bilamlal Shrestha. Tandukar played draw against CM Keshav Shrestha and beat Janardan Shrestha in the sixth and seventh rounds respectively.
Duwal saw off Niraj Niraula in the sixth and shared point with Rajan Chhetri in another round. Rajbhandari registered victories over Madhav Prasad Pradhan and Chudamani Bhattarai in the sixth and seventh rounds respectively. Shyam Sundar registered victories over Bhimdutta Pandey and Keshav Shrestha in the sixth and seventh rounds.
Bilamlal Shrestha, Madan Krishna Kayastha, Bishwabijay Ghimire and Prakash Nepal have scored 5.5 points apiece.
Similarly, Surbir Lama, Punyaman Karmacharya, Keshav Shrestha, Rupesh Jaiswal, Sitaram Agrawal, Chudamani Bhattarai, Lekh Bahadur Thapa, Rajendra Shrestha, Niraj Niraula, Prem Krishna Maharjan, Sudip Bajracharya and Basanta Rawal have scored five points apiece.
Related story
Asian Zonal chess championship from March 18
