Four players, led by second seed Tania Sachdev of Delhi, emerged joint leaders with 5.5 points each as overnight leaders top seed Eesha Karvade and Saheli Nath suffered defeats in the seventh round of the National Junior Girls Chess Championship in Kozhikode on Sunday.

Third seed Kruttika Nadig (Maharashtra), Nadeela Farheen (Tamil Nadu) and Kiran Monisha Mohanty (Orissa) were the others who shared the top spot.

While IWM Tania upset Eesha on the top board in 84 moves, Nadeela took full advantage of sixth seed Saheli's mistakes in the second board to win in 67 moves.

 Kruttika easily outpaced Amrutha Mokal (Maha) in 26 moves while Mohanty prevailed over P Sivasankari (TN) in 50 moves.

In the second place, with five points each were Lakshmi Praneetha (CCA), Eesha, Saheli, Iswarya (GLDN), Ramya Krishnan (AP) and N Raghavi (TN).

Important results of seventh round: Eesha Karvade [MAH] 5 lost to Tania Sachdev [DEL] 5.5; Nabeela Farheen [TN] 5.5 bt Saheli Nath [WB] 5; Amrutha Mokal [Mah] 4.5 lost to Kruttika Nadig [MAH] 5.5; Kiran Mohanty [Ori] 5.5 bt P Sivasankari [TN] 4.5; Iswarya Shobana [Gldn] 5 drew with Ramya Krishnan [AP] 5; N Raghavi [TN] 5 bt Kajri Chokshi [GUJ] 4; Lakshmi Praneetha [CCA] 5 bt Supriya Maji [WB] 4; H Soumya [ACA] 4.5 drew with Mary Ann Gomes [GNCA] 4; Soumya Swaminathan [Mah] 3.5 lost to M Rajadarshini [TN] 4.5; Nimmi George [KER] 4.5 bt Rajasurya [ECA] 3.5; Jennitha Anto [ACA] 4.5 bt C Delphin [MCA] 3.5; R Shruke [MCA] 4 drew with Dhyani B Dave [GUJ] 4.