Early starter Chesters, who had fired four birdies in his first 13 holes before play was suspended, picked up another shot after the restart to get to nine under par.
That left him one stroke clear of Siddikur Rahman, who completed his round on Friday, and Richard McEvoy, Stuart Manley and defending champion Alex Levy – all of whom were still out on course when play was suspended for the day at 20:52pm.
Charl Schwartzel is yet to get his second round under way, and is four shots off the lead.
Despite two bogeys, Trevor Fisher Jnr moved into the top 10 with a second round four-under par 68. Richard Sterne is another South African that will be around on the weekend after his one-under par 71 moved him to -3 for 36 holes.
The second round will resume at 8:00am local time on Saturday morning.
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