Chennai, November 17: In the clash of two in-form players - Himanshu Sharma (Haryana) plucked the gaping holes in Prathamesh Mokal's Sicilian's Defence to notch a resounding victory in the seventh round on Friday. With 6.5 points, he has taken a one point lead in the Indian Oil - Servo National Under-18 Chess Championship at Ambedkar Auditorium, here on Friday.Defending champion Mahesh Chandran (Tamil Nadu) got the better of Soumya Ranjan (Orissa) to lie in second place with 5.5 points.JE Kavitha (Tamil Nadu) maintained her half point lead in the girls section with a comfortable victory over CV Rajalakshmi (CCI), whose dubious opening followed by a wrong continuation gave her no chance. Kavitha (six points) finished the job in 29 moves.Top seed RR Laxman (TN) was fortunate to get away with a draw against Jonathan Utarid (Karnataka). In the Leningrad Dutch, Laxman's pieces were misplaced and there was hardly any worthy plan to get him out of the morass. He desperately offered a draw in the 25th move and Utarid surprisingly agreed to a draw in a position from where defeat was difficult to envisage.MR Venkatesh (ECC) after forcing Arghaydip Das (GNCA) into a corner in the Classical Caro-kann allowed him to escape with a draw in a pawn down rook ending. Of course, the rook ending was not straightforward and required patience and correct plan. The Bengal youngster looked shaky after yesterday's loss.Y Pratibha (TN) romped home in style, creating a Kingside mating attack against compatriot Nabeela Farheen in 30 moves from the Open Ruy Lopez. Pratibha's Queen and knight gelled well to weave a mating net while Nabeela's pieces were locked in the Queenside and could not come to King's rescue.Kasturi excels: M Kasturi, the youngster from Madurai used her Queen and rook energetically to force mate on Anuradha Beniwal (Haryana). The bishop move on the 23rd turn, defending her King, leaving her rook en prise and threatening mate with her Queen and pawn was exhilarating.Results (Round VII) Boys: Himanshu Sharma (Har) 6.5 bt Prathamesh Mokal (Mah) 5.5; JM Utarid (Kar) 5 drew RR Laxman (TN) 5; MR Venkatesh (TN) 5 drew Arghyadip Das (GNCA) 5; P Mahesh Chandran (TN) 5.5 bt Soumya Ranjan Mishra (Ori) 4.5; Poobesh Anand (TN) 4.5 drew Deepan Chakravarthy (TN) 4.5; Praveenkumar (TN) 5 bt Preetham Sharma (TN) 4; Pradip Ghosh (WB) 4.5 bt R Siddharth (TN) 4; RS Prasanna (TN) 3.5 lost to Bharath Gupta (Raj) 4.5; Sudhir K Sinha (Bih) 3.5 lost to G Rohit (AP) 4.5; MK Narasimhan (TN) 3.5 lost to Ram S Krishnan (Capa) 4.5; Kukku Ramesh (Ker) 4 bt R Uttam Sharma (TN) 3.5; V Haribalu (TN) 3 lost to Ramachandran (Kar) 4; Rahul Sangma (Bih) 3.5 drew TS Pradeep (Kar) 3.5; Vijay Keerthi (Kar) 3 lost to Raghuram Balaji (CCI) 4; R Muthukumaran (T'Nagar) 4 bt Hardik Jha (Guj) 3.Girls: JE Kavitha (TN) 6 bt CV Rajalakshmi (CCI) 4.5; Y Pratibha (TN) 5.5 bt Nabeela Farheen (TN) 3.5; M Kasturi (TN) 5 bt Anuradha Beniwal (Har) 4; H Nilavoli (TN) 5 bt N Sandhya (Ker) 4; P Malarselvi (TN) 4 lost to Baisakhi Das (WB) 4.5; Soumya Swaminathan (Mah) 3.5 lost to Amruta S Mokal (VCA) 4.5; P Sumathi (TN) 4 drew Anuprita Patil (Mah) 4; P Priya (ECC) 3.5 drew Prajeesha (Ker) 3.5; B Umamaheswari (TN) 4 bt J Megha (Kar) 2.5; E Lakshmi (Kar) 2.5 lost to S Ramya (Pdy) 3.5; P Sivasankari (TN) 3 drew PN Harini (TN) 3; M Monogna (AP) 2 lost to P Uthra (TN) 3.5; BK Srivani (AP) 2.5 drew Aneeqha Tahseen (TN) 2.5; T Anusha (TN) 0 lost to Priya (Bih) 3; V Krithika (TN) 2.5 bt Swethanarayan (Capa) 1.5.
