Pune, Apr 7 (IANS): Six-time champion Kishan Gangolli (4.5 points) of Karnataka outdistanced the field by half a point when he defeated Ashwin Makwana (3.5 points) of Gujarat in the fifth round of the 15th AICFB National Chess Championships for visually challenged players, here on Thursday.

Six players Swapnil Shah, Milind Samant (both Maharashtra), Soundarya Pradhan, Subhendu Patra (both Orisa), R.Gopi (TN) and Saiyam Shah (Guj) are following Kishan with four points each.

Kishan displayed his class while outwitting Ashwin Makwana in Dutch Defence. Ashwin employed Dutch Defence but Kishan saddled him with bad pieces and put pressure and forced him to resign after 40 moves.

Favourite Aryan Joshi (3.5 points) once again could not break his chain of draws when he was held to a draw by Sam Peniel (3.5 points) of TN in Sicilian Defence.

Top-seeded Darpan Inani (3.5 points) made his comeback with an easy win over Mrinalini Pande (2.5 points) from the black pieces.

With only four more rounds to go, the battle has been hot among the players as the Indian team to the international tournaments in China, Macedonia and France will be picked up from these players.