Woman Grandmaster Bhakti Kulkarni played out a solid draw with Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan to retain sole lead in the seventh round of Asian women's chess championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Bhakti will now require one and a half point from the nexttwo rounds to win the championship. She moved to 5.5 points out of a possible seven and four players trail her a half point behind with just two rounds remaining in the premier women event of the continent.Grandmaster B Adhiban jumped in to joint lead following a lucky victory against Petr Kostenko, also of Kazakhstan in the seventh round of Asian Open Chess Chanpionship.Former world junior girls' champion Soumya Swaminathan defeated former Asian champion Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran. Soumya, Saduakassova, Li Xueyi of China and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova of Uzbekistan share the second spot on five points apiece.On the flip side, highest ranked Indian Padmini Rout bowed out of contention after another draw in the event against Hoang Thi Bao Tram of Vietnam. Padmini bagged just four points out of a possible seven.