Dubai: Grandmaster (GM) Salem A. R. Saleh of the UAE and six others remained tied for the lead with two points each after as many rounds of the Asian Continental Chess Championship at the Sharjah Chess Club in Sharjah on Saturday.
Indian GMs B. Adhiban and G.N. Gopal, two Chinese GMs, Wen Yang and Yu Yangyi, Iran’s GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami and GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh are tied with Saleh at two points each.
Saleh crushed the Sicilian Defense of GM Abhijit Kunte of India by preventing his opponent from castling. Saleh sacrificed a Bishop on the 30th move and Kunte had to give up his Queen to prevent checkmate but resigned on the 36th move.
Adhiban used the Gruenfeld Defense to turn back GM Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa of Mongolia in 60 moves. Gopal pried open the castled King of untitled Assad Mamyrbay of Kazakhstan and penetrated with his Rook and Queen to force resignation on the 31st move.
Yu Yangyi needed only 26 moves of his Fiancheto Gruenfeld Defense to beat GM Suri Vaibhav of India while Chinese GM Wen Yang beat his compatriot Wan Yunguo in 50 moves of a Scotch Game.
Rahman used the Trompovsky Attack to upset GM Abhijeet Gupta of India in 46 moves. Ghaem Maghami used the Nimzo-Indian defense to launch a sacrificial attack and force GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam to resign in only 24 moves.
Fifteen players are bunched together a half point behind the lead pack with 1.5 points apiece. The top five shall qualify to the World Cup next year.
In the women’s division, young Abdumalik Zhansaya of Kazakhstan and WGM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran are tied for the lead at 2 points each.
Former Asian Women’s champion Irine Sukandar of Indonesia and 11 other players follow at 1.5 points each, namely Tania Sachdev, Gomes Mary Ann and Swathi Ghate of India, Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thanh An, Hoang Thi Nhu and Hoang Thi Bao Tram, Ni Shiqun of China, Tohirjonova Hulkar of Uzbekistan, Pourkashiyan Atousa of Iran, Gong Qianyun of Singapore and Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolia. The winner of the 32-player tournament will advance to the Women’s World Cup.
