Highest-rated Indian in the fray B. Adhiban scored an expected victory and came back to reckoning while former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta scored his second win on the trot in the Asian Continental chess championship, here today.
Not known to losing many games, Adhiban was in for a shock as local hopeful Temur Igonin had turned the tables on him. However, the Indian recovered quickly to win the third round with white pieces giving little chance to Mongolian Baterdene Tsogbayar.
Abhijeet had been on the receiving end against Chinese Fang Yan in the opening round but the Indian got his act together and scored an effortless victory over Alisher Begmuratov of Uzbekistan to reach two points out of a possible three.
Aravindh Chithambaram continued with his good form and drew with higher—ranked compatriot S P Sethuraman in the third round to move up to 2.5 points. The other Indians on same score are Surya Shekhar Ganguly and M.R. Lalithbabu . While Ganguly was held to a draw by Gao Rui of China, Lalith Babu accounted for Masoud Mosadeghpour of Iran.
With six rounds still remaining to decide the best player on the continent, Chinese duo of Wei Yi and Wang Yen, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam share the lead with a perfect score.
In the women’s championship being organised simultaneously, India’s best bet Padmini Rout suffered a huge setback losing to Li Xueyi of China. Bhakti Kulkarni caused an upset of sorts defeating higher-rated compatriot Soumya Swamithan .
Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran emerged as the sole leader on three points while Bhakti is amongst those who have 2.5 points in her kitty.
The Asian continental open section is a part of the next world championship cycle that will select five players from for the next world chess cup. In the women’s section only one place is reserved for the next women knockout world championship slated sometime during the end of the year.
Important results: Round 3 (Indians unless specified): Le Quang Liem (Vie, 3) beat Murtas Kazhgaleyev (Kaz, 2); Wei Yi (Chn, 3) beat Jahongir Vakhidov (Uzb, 2); Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (Iri, 3) beat Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2.5) drew with Gao Rui (Chn, 2.5); S P Sethuraman (2.5) drew with Aravindh Chithambaram (2.5); A R Saleh Salem (Uae, 2.5) drew with Temur Igonin (Uzb, 2); Wen Yang (Chn, 3) beat Firman Syah Farid (Ina, 2); Firouzja Alireza (Iri, 1.5) lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 2.5); M R Lalith Babu (2.5) beat Masoud Mosadeghpour (Iri, 1.5); Fang Yan (Chn, 2) drew with Deep Sengupta (2); B Adhiban (2) beat Baterdene Tsogbayar (Mgl, 1); Alisher Begmuratov (Uzb, 1) lost to Abhijeet Gupta (2); Awam Wahono (Ina, 2) beat Murali Karthikeyan (1); Rahul Srivatshav (1) beat Rabbim Umarov (Uzb, 0).
Women: Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri, 3) beat Gong Qianyun (Chn, 2); Guo Qi (Chn, 2) drew with Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie, 2.5); Munguntuul Batkhuyag (Mgl, 1.5) lost to Hoang Thi Bao Tram (Vie, 2.5); Li Xueyi (Chn, 2.5) beat Padmini Rout (1.5); Pham Le Thao Nguyen (Vie, 2) drew with Mary Ann Gomes (2); Bhakti Kulkarni (2.5) beat Soumya Swaminathan (1.5); Khademalsharieh Sarasadat (Iri, 2) beat Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie, 1); Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz, 2) beat Bokhara Abdusattorova (Uzb, 1); R Vaishali (1.5) drew with Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (Mgl, 1.5); B Pratyusha (2) beat Bashaer Khalil (1).
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