KATHMANDU: Niraj Niraula of Jhapa and Purushottam Chaulagain of Kathmandu registered wins in the 10th round matches at the second Mayor’s Cup International Chess Championship on Friday.

Niraj defeated 1679-rated Nishitiz Sinhal and Purushottam beat 1687 rated Nitim Kamle at the Gurgaon Sports Club. Nepal’s lone FIDE Master Manish Hamal - who lost the last two round matches — played a draw against 1679-rated Satya Siddhali of India. Going into the 11th and final round, Hamal and Purushottam have 5.5 points each.

Other Nepali players, Deepak Maharjan, Prem Krishna Maharjan and Rijendra Rajbhandari, all lost their matches. Deepak, who registered win in the ninth round, lost to 2083-rated Indian player Sneha Bhosle, while Prem Krishna was beaten by 1753-rated Samyak Baid and Rijendra went down to 1993-rated Ram Gupta. Rijendra has five points, while Deepak and Prem Krishna are level at 4.5 points. The final round matches will be held on Saturday.