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NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 15:

        The top two seeded Chennai teams posted impressive wins and edged closer to the crown in the 10th 10th Shipping Corporation National Cities Team Chess Championship here yesterday.

        Top seed Chennai 'A' crushed defending champion and overnight leader, Kancheepuram 'A' 3.5-0.5 in the seventh round to snatch a half-point lead with 20 points from 28 games.

        Chennai 'B' is in clear second place with 19.5 points after posting a huge 4-0 sweep in the sixth round over Mangalore 'A'. Kozhikode is in the third place with 19 points. Tied for the fourth place on 18 points are Hyderabad and Kancheepuram 'A'.

        For Chennai 'A', IM R R Laxman, Vinoth Kumar and Ram S Krishnan accounted for Shazuli, Natarajan and T J Suresh Kumar.

        Mari Arul held the upper hand for Kancheepuram 'A' in the second board, but only managed a draw against off-form R Balasubramaniam. Kancheepuram scored only two points from the last eight games and has perhaps lost the title chance.

        Chennai 'B' played a fighting 2-2 draw with Hyderabad with G B Prakash scoring the victory for the host on the top board against Vikramjit Singh. Vinay Kumar reduced the margin for Hyderabad with a win over

        Hariharan in the bottom board. The Sudhakar Babu-Rishipal Singh and K V Shantharam-J Ramakrishna games ended in draws.

        Earlier, in the morning session, Kozhikode destroyed the hopes of Kancheepuram 'A' by inflicting a 2.5-1.5 defeat on it.

        Important results: Seventh round: Kancheepuram 'A' (18) lost to Chennai 'A' (20) 0.5-3.5, Chennai 'B' (19.5) drew with Hyderabad (18) 2-2, Ahmedabad (15.5) lost to Kozhikode (19) 1-3, Bangalore 'B' (17.5) bt Chennai 'L' (15) 3-1, Mangalore 'A' (15) bt Mangalore 'B' (15) 2.5-1.5, Trivallur (15.5) drew with Chennai 'C' (14) 2-2.

        Sixth round: Kozhikode bt Kancheepuram 'A' 2.5-1.5, Hyderabad lost to Chennai 'A' 1.5-2.5, Mangalore 'A' lost to Chennai 'B' 0-4, Chennai 'L' bt Tiruvallur 2.5-1.5.