PANJIM: WGM Bhakti Kulkarni defeated Pratyusha Bodda (2128) of Andhra Pradesh to tally 4.5 points after the sixth round of Bhavarlal and Kantabai Jain Foundations 39^th  Premier National Women Chess Championship in Maharashtra, Monday.

Bhakti is currently in the joint lead alongwith IM Nisha Mohata, WGM Mary Ann Gomes, WGM Meenakshi Subaramanan, WGM Swati Ghate and WGM Saumya Sominathan. She will face WGM Meenakshi in the seventh round.

Meanwhile, WIM Ivana Furtado lost to WGM Padmini Raut (2302) of Airport Authority of India. She is on 2.5 points.