Experiencing contrasting emotions, Arjun Erigaisi and D. Gukesh retained their half-point lead after the seventh round of the MPL National chess championship here on Monday.
Breaking away from the overnight five-man leading pack with varying degrees of difficulty in the sixth round in the afternoon, Arjun and Gukesh settled for draws to reach six points.
Facing Arjun, Aryan Chopra gave nothing away in their 54-move draw. On the other hand, Gukesh tossed away a slight edge against the two-time defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram following a blunder in time-pressure. Just when it seemed Aravindh was tightening his grip, Gukesh managed to elude the grasp with some fine defence and escaped with a 69-move draw.
