WIM Rani Hamid and WFM Nazrana Khan maintained their joint lead in the points table of the Walton 38th National Women's Chess Championship at the close of the eighth round at the Bangladesh Chess Federation hall room yesterday.

Rani beat Afrin Jahan Munia while Nazrana beat Thakur Zania Haque in the penultimate round. Both Rani and Nazrana have seven points each from eight matches. The final round will take place on Saturday.

WFM Zakia Sultana was at second position with six points after defeating Jhorna Begum while four players -- Noshin Anjum, Umme Taslima Protiva Talukder, Kazi Zarin Tasnim and Jannatul Ferdous -- shared fourth position with 5.5 points each.