Candidate Master (CM) Bhupendra Niraula has taken a sole lead in the National Chess Championships with four points after the fourth round here on Saturday.

Niraula stunned reigning Nepal champion and fellow CM Keshav Shrestha in the fourth round to top the points table after his fourth win in a row. Earlier, Niraula had overcome Kamal Shrestha in the third round. Sajin Maharjan is second in the table with 3.5 points following his draw against Fide Master (FM) Manish Hamal in the third round. He later eased to a victory over national amateur champion Chhitij Bhandari.

Himal Lama, Purushottam Chaulagain, former national champion Naveen Tandukar along with FM trio Hamal, Bilam Lal Shrestha and Sujendra Prasad Shrestha are joint third in the table with three points. Lama played a draw against FM Sujendra in the third round before defeating Kamal in the fourth.

Chaualgain registered double victory overcoming Bhagwati Prasad Sharma and Maharjan. Hamal had a double draw in the day having shared points with Bilam Lal in the fourth round. Bilam Lal saw off CM Rijendra Rajbhandari in the third round and Sujendra cruised past Bikash Kuluju.

Keshav, Rajbhandari, Bhandari, Rabindra Shakya, Prakash Nepal and Sumit Panta are joint fourth with 2.5 points. Monalisha Khamboo and Asmita Adhikari are jointly leading the women’s category with 3.5 points each. Former Nepal champion Monalisha defeated Bina Jaiswal, while current champion Adhikari beat Sindira Joshi in fourth round.

Sindira shares the second spot with WCM Suruchi Thing on three points each. Shanta Thapa, Bina and Sangita Jaiswal have 2.5 points each with Bisekha Jaiswal, Aabha Pudasaini, Anisha Neupane, Sujana Lohani and Anju Shah behind them with two points each.