LALITPUR: Himal Lama of Golden Gate College accumulated five points to take lead after the fifth round of the fourth Cooperative Cup Chess Tournament here on Monday. Lama defeated three-time Nepal champion Badrilal Nepali in the fifth round after he had defeated national amateur champion Kshitiz Bhandari in the fourth round. Suman Rai and

Sumit Pant are joint second on 4.5 points, while Nepali, Rijendra Rajbhandari, Bikash Kuluju, Sajin Maharjan, Kshitiz Bhandari, Rabindra Shakya and Ashish Phuyal have earned four points each. Keshav Shrestha, Manish Hamal, Nabin

Tandukar, Milan Roka, Kamal Shrestha, Suman Lama and Bharat Dhimal are further behind with 3.5 points apiece.