Sharjah: Grandmasters B. Adhiban of India, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and Yu Yangyi of China beat their respective third-round opponents to share the lead with perfect records in the Asian Continental Chess Championship Open division at the Sharjah Chess Club.
In the women’s division, former Asian champion Irene Sukandar of Indonesia and six others are tied for the lead at 2.5 points each.
Adhiban crushed the Sicilian defence of compatriot G N Gopal in a marathon 93 moves and six hours of play. Adhiban had three pieces against queen and forced Gopal to exchange the queen for two pieces to prevent mate.
Ghaem Maghami needed only 37 moves to outwit the Sicilian defence of Indian grand master Krishnan Sasikiran. The Iranian champion was able to advance his queenside pawns to threaten promotion.
Yu Yangyi beat local hero Salem A R Saleh in 40 moves of another Sicilian defence. The Chinese master penetrated Salem’s second rank with rook and queen and captured two pawns to set up victory.
Four players — grand masters Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan and China’s Bu Xiangzhi and Wen Yang — follow a half point behind the leaders at 2.5 points each.
Twenty-three players trail at two points each in the race for five places to advance to the World Cup. Sixty-four players from 21 countries are competing in the Open division, including 32 grand masters, 11 international masters and six World Chess Federation (Fide) masters.
In the women’s division, Sukandar is tied with 13-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik of Kazakhstan, Nguyen Thi Thanh An of Vietnam, Ni Shiqun of China, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and Gong Qianyun of Singapore.
Thirty-two women are vying for the title and the chance to advance to the Women’s World Championship.
Meanwhile, Yu emerged victorious in a $5,000 (Dh18,365) Blitz Championship (5 minutes per player) with 7.5 points from nine rounds.
Grand masters Pentala Harikrishna of India and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran shared second and third places with seven points each.
In the women’s division, an unbeaten Tan Zhongyi of China won the title with eight points, followed by grand masters Harika Dronavalli of India and Abdumalik with 6.5 points each.
