Defending champion and Grandmaster R Vaishali jumped into sole lead in the women`s section as she notched her third straight victory with a win against Olga Bedelka of Austria in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss here on Saturday.

On a day when Vantika Agrawal found the going tough and went down to Yuxin Song of China, D Harika was held to a draw by Guo Qi of China. Both Vantika and Harika are on 1.5 points apiece while Vaishali enjoys a half point lead over her nearest rivals.

In the open section, world champion D Gukesh punished some audacious play by Spaniard Daniil Yuffa and moved to 2.5 points out of a possible three.