GM Parimarjan Negi crashed through the defences of K Sasikiran to emerge joint leader after the second round of the AICF-AAI Chess Cup.

With eight rounds to go in the six-players double round-robin tournament, Negi and Radoslav Wojtaszek (Poland) share the lead with 1.5 points apiece.

Himmat excels
Captain Himmat Singh's unbeaten 140 helped Delhi U-16 reach 214/3 against Haryana on Day One of the Vijay Merchant Trophy.

In DDCA league, Hiten Dalal's 79 helped Air India beat Air Force. In other matches, Lalit Dahiya's 70 aided Roop Nagar, Vijay Bahadur's 4/21 helped OBC and Sarthak's 120* helped Maulana Azad win.