LALITPUR: National champion Badri Lal Nepali, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha, Sujendra Prasad Shrestha, Shyam Shrestha and Niraj Niraula maintained their unbeaten run until the end of the fifth round of the third Madan Memorial National Rating Chess Championships here today.

All five players share the lead with 4.5 points after the completion of fifth round of the championship played under the Swiss League Format. Badri Lal defeated Ratna Byanjankar of Lalitpur in the fourth round before playing a draw against Rajendra Prasad Shrestha in the next round. Rajendra had defeated Madhav Prasad Pradhan of Rupandehi in the fourth round.

Sujendra started with a win against Niranjan Prajapati in the fourth round before being forced to share half point with Shyam Shrestha in the fifth. Shyam had defeated Dirgha Raj Joshi of Kanchanpur in his previous round.

Likewise, Niraj won both fourth and fifth round games to climb atop the leaderboard. Niraj

earned a point against Nikesh Duwal of Bhaktapur in the fourth round before defeating Krishna Hari Shrestha of Lalitpur in the next round.

FIDE Master Manish Hamal, Purushottam Chaulagain, Ganesh Man Duwal, Niranjan Prajapati, Dirgha Raj Joshi, Prachanda Malakar, Prasan Bhasima, Madan Krishan Kayastha, Rupesh Jaiswal, Ratna Byanjankar and Rajan Chhetri are next with equal four points. Rupesh denied Manish, who beat Bijay Maharjan of Lalitpur in the fourth round, a chance to join five others atop the table with a draw in the fifth round.

Likewise, Surbir Lama, Rajendra Bajracharya, Bijay Shrestha, Bhagwati Prasad Sharma, Rupendra Shakya, Hari Chandra Chaulagain, Nikesh Duwal, Sachin Maharjan and Bijay Maharjan are in the pack on nine with 3.5 points after the end of the fifth round.