The seventh round produced some thrilling matches and upsets. International Master Koustav Chatterjee upset two-time national champion Aravindh Chithambaram to join Praggnanandhaa, Bharathakoti and Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan at the top.

Member of Olympiad Gold medal winning Uzbekistan team, Vokhidov joined the leaders pack after defeating former Asian Champion S P Sethuraman.

A group of six players -S L Narayanan, B Adhiban, Leon Luke Mendonca, Karthik Venkataraman, the Turkmenistan duo of Saparmyat Atabeyev and Maksat Atabayev-have five points and are in joint second spot.

In the women’s section, Nandhidhaa P V maintained her sole lead and unbeaten run with six point after seven rounds, after drawing with Padmini Rout in 49 moves while Priyanka Nutakki following the heels of Nandhidhaa with a drift of half point after winning her seventh round against Nilufar Yakubbaeva of Uzbekistan.

Padmini Rout, Soumya Swaminathan and Divya Deshmukh are in joint third spot with five points. Soumya posted a win over Nisha Mohota while Divya put it across Rakshitta Ravi.