The 9th round of the National Challengers Chess Championship 2015 finally saw a sole leader coming through as GM Murali Karthikeyan moved on to 7/9 by overcoming IM Anurag Mhamal on the First board. In other top games, GMs Laxman and Neelotpal drew their personal encounter while GM Kunte scored a crucial victory over top-seeded GM Sengupta.
The 10th round of the tournament will witness GM Karthikeyan, the leader, taking on IM Swapnil Dhopade, who is on the joint-second spot along with 7 others. With 4 more rounds to go, the field is still pretty wide open.
Round 9 Results: Here