Al Ain: Four Indian Grandmasters are in the leading pack after two rounds of the Asian Continental Chess Championship at the Hilton Hotel in Al Ain.
Grandmasters Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Chanda Sandipan, Lalith Babu and Vishnu Prasnna lead with a perfect tally of two points along with four others, Chinese International Master Wang Chen, Uzbek GM Jahongir Vakhidovand and Iranian GMs Idani Pouya and Darini Pouria.
Ganguly beat GM Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan of Mongolia in the second round, forcing a resignation on the 42nd move.
Sandipan overcame Tsegmed Batchuluun of Mongolia, while Babu fought past Lou Yiping of China in a marathon 76 moves.
Wang kept Chinese hopes alive as he beat Ameen Tabatabaei of Iran in 67 moves, but Pouya stepped up for Iran as he got the better of Indian GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan in 45 moves.
Pouria scored at the expense of local master Ishaq Saeed of the UAE in 58 moves and young Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan beat K. Rahnakaran of India in 36 moves.
Local hero Saleh A.R Salem was held to a draw by Chin’s Xu Yinglun in 46 moves. Salem and 18 others, including top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, trail the leaders with 1.5 points each.
In the women’s division, three Indians again have a share of the lead, namely IM Padmini Rout, IM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi and WGM Mary Ann Gomes.
Also tied at two points each are Indonesian WGM Aulia Madinah Warda, Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan, WGM Zhang Xiaowen of China and Iranians Atousa Pourkashiyan and Raana Hakimfard.
