Zaiur, rated 2496, overcame GM Niaz Murshed, rated 2464, of the same country in the sixth round played on Monday to come on top of the standings with 5.5 points. Earlier, in the Sunday night's fifth board match, he had defeated top rated GM Abudlla Al-Rakib of Bangladesh.
Al-Rakib, rated 2521, eased past Nepal's Candidate Master (CM) Rijendra Raj Bhandari in the sixth board. He sits jointly on second position with 4.5 points along with another Bangladeshi FIDE Master (FM) Nashir Ahmed. Meanwhile, Nepal's Bhupendra Niraula's undefeated record came to an end on the sixth round after Bangladesh's Nashir, rated 2336, overcame him.
Earlier, in the fifth round, Bhupendra, rated 1989, had stunned Bangladeshi International Master Minhazuddin Ahmed, rated 2443. Bhupendra has accumulated four points along with Bangladeshi GM Niaz Murshed, GM Enamul Hossain and IM Abu Sufian Shakil.
Nepal's CM Rupesh Jaiswal, rated 2156, saw off Sohel Chowdhury of Bangladesh rated, 2123, to earn 3.5 points. Similarly Madan Krishna Kayastha beat Kshitiz Bhandari. Similarly, the least rated player Anup Pokharel (1694), who was defeated in the first two boards, gave continuity to his impressive performance in the event. Anup overcame CM Krishna Thapa in the sixth round to garner three points. He had edged past FM Sujendra Prasad Shrestha in the third round, and shared points with Bangladeshi FM Aminul Islam and Nepal's Bishwa Bijay Ghimire in the fourth and fifth round.
In the women's section, Women IM (WIM), Shamima Akter Liza took solo lead at the completion of sixth rounds with 5.5 points in her kitty. Liza, rated 2130, edged past Nepal's Bina Jaiswal, rated 1516, in the sixth round. Similarly, the fourth rated WFM Najarana Khan of Bangladesh shared points with WFM Nazrana Khan of her own country to remain on second position with five points.
Similarly, Bangladeshi WIM Rani Hamid, Sri Lankan WIM SD Ranasinghe have earned four points each after victory in the sixth board. Nepal's Mona Lisa Khubu, Bangladesh's Sultana Sharmin Shirin and Mahamuda Haq Chowdhury have 3.5 points each.
The seventh and eighth rounds of the tournament will be played on Wednesday.
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