(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Gms adhiban of india maghami of iran and yangi of china going strong
former asian women’s champion irene sukandar of indonesia (right) beat atousa pourkashiyan of iran. — supplied photo
grandmasters b. adhiban of india ehsan ghaem maghami of iran and yu yangi of china remained tied for the lead in the open division while wgm irene sukandar of indonesia and wim ni shiqun of china were tied for the lead in the women’s division after four rounds of the asian continental chess championships at the sharjah chess club in sharjah.
adhiban used the king’s indian defence to hold former asian champion rustam kasimdzhanov of uzbekistan to a draw in 25 moves. ghaem maghami essayed the nimzo indian defence to draw with co-leader yu yangyi in 42 moves and tie adhiban at 3.5 points each.
kasimdzhanov follows with three points together with 12 other players namely local hero gm salem a. r. saleh of the uae chu wei chao wen yang bu xiangzhi and wei yi of china g. n. gopal vishnu prasanna and s.p. sethuraman of india mohammed al sayed of qatar ziaur rahman of bangladezh nguyen ngoc truong son of vietnam. the top five qualify to the world cup. in the women’s division two former asian women’s champion faced off and irene sukandar of indonesia beat atousa pourkashiyan of iran in 61 moves of a giuoco piano game. wim ni shiqun of china crushed the sicilian defence of 13-year-old zhansaya abdumalik of kazakhstan in 43 moves.
ni shiqun and sukandar are tied at 3.5 points each. four players follow at three points each namely wgms nguyen thi thanh an and hoang thi bao tram of vietnam sarasadat khademalsharieh of iran and gong qianyun of singapore. seven players trail with 2.5 points apiece in the race for the title and the qualification to the next phase of the women’s world championship.
both open and women’s tournaments are nine-round swiss system tournaments. a total of $65000 in cash prizes are at stake in the tournaments organized by the uae chess federation and sharjah chess club on behalf of the asian chess federation and fide (world chess federation).
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