Xu Jun stays ahead; Ganguly jumps to joint fourth

By S. Sabanayakan

KOLKATA, AUG. 13. Chinese Grandmaster Xu Jun enjoyed the upper hand winning the sixth and seventh rounds to lead the field with 6.5 in the third Asian Individual chess championship at the Gorky Sadan here on Monday. Following him one point behind was GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan. Four others, GM Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan, Indian IM P. Harikrishna, GM Anh Dung Nguyen of Vietnam and IM Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan were in joint third place with five each.

As many as 12 players, including two Indians GM Praveen Thipsay and IM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, were in the joint fourth place with 4.5 each.

Jun won the seventh round against GM Mohamad Al- Modiahki of Qatar in a Kings Indian Defence. He was a rook up against three pawns in a some what unclear position. In the time scramble his opponent could not play well and lost in 49 moves. Earlier in the sixth round, Jun beat untitled Morteza Mohjoob of Iran in 29 moves in the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian defence.

Pentyala Harikrishna drew his seventh round against Uzbek GM Alexei Barsov in a 11-move Slav Defence, coming closer to his third and final GM norm. In the sixth round he was lucky to win against IM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh in a rook and pawn ending. Ziaur Rahman was a little better in the ending but, he allowed Harikrishna to penetrate his queenside and grab his pawns after which the game was lost for him.

In a Sicilian, Iuldachev went for an attack with his queen, rook and knight on his opponents king side and forced him to resign. Barua mishandled a good position in Slav Defence and lost in 49 moves. Thipsay split points with GM Shukhrat Safin of Uzbekistan in a Ruy Lopez irregular in 26 moves to be at the striking distance.

The results (seventh round): Xu Jun (Chn) 6.5 bt Mohamad Al- Modiahki (Qat) 4.5; Alexei Barsov (Uzb) 5 drew with P. Harikrishna (Ind) 5; Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) 5.5 bt Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iri) 4.5; Zhang Pengxiang (Chn) 4.5 drew with Wang Zili (Chn) 4.5; Anh Dung Nguyen (Vei) 5 bt Marteza Mahjoob (Qat) 4; P.M. Thipsay (Ind) 4.5 drew with Shukhrat Safin (Uzb) 4.5; Tahir Vikhidov (Uzb) 5 bt D. Barua (Ind) 4; Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 4.5 drew with Li Wenliang (Chn) 4.5; Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 4.5 bt Abdulla Al-Rakib (Ban) 4; Odeev Handszar (Tkm) 4 drew with Peng Xiaomin (Chn) 4; Liang Jingrong (Chn) 4 drew with K. Sasikiran (Ind) 4; Darmen Sadvakasov (Kaz) 4 drew with Ziaur Rahman (Ban) 4; Liang Chong (Chn) 4 drew with Wang Yue (Chn) 4; Sergey Zagrebelny (Uzb) 4.5 bt A. Kunte (Ind) 3.5; Yurtaev Leonid (Kgz) 4.5 bt Vladimir Egin (Uzb) 3.5; Vladimir Magai (Kgz) 3.5 lost to S.S. Ganguly (Ind) 4.5; D.V. Prasad (Ind) 3.5 lost to Yu Shaoteng (Chn) 4.5; Fernie Donguines (Phi) 3 lost to Utut Adianto (Ina) 4; Wu Wenjin (Chn) 4 bt Elshan Moradiabadi (Iri) 3; Lanka Ravi (Ind) 3 lost to Eugene Torre (Phi) 4; Sriram Jha (Ind) 3.5 drew with Rogelio Antonio Jr (Phi) 3.5; P. Konguvel (Ind) 3.5 drew with Reefat Bin Sattar (Ban) 3.5; Rolando Nolte (Phi) 3.5 drew with Amir Mallahi (Iri); Murtas Kazhzaleyev (Kaz) 3 bt Chito Garma (Phi) 2.5; Liu Dede (Ina) 2.5 lost to B. Villamayor (Phi) 3.5; Petr Kostenko (Kaz) 3.5 bt Md. Al-Sayed (Qat) 2.5; O. Annageldyev (Tkm) 3.5 bt E. Hossain (Ban) 2.5; J. Isaev (Tjk) 3.5 bt M. Turpanov (Kgz) 2.5; A. Wohl (Aus) 3.5 bt M. Paragua (Phi) 2.5; T. Rahman (Ban) 3 drew with Md. Lodhi (Pak) 3; R. Dableo (Phi) 2 lost to P. Kotsur (Kaz) 3; S. Izmukhambetov (Kaz) 3 bt A. Roghani (Iri) 2; M. Ghorbani (Iri) 2 lost to S.M. Rahman (Ban) 3; H.T. Tarang (Vei) 2 drew with Dao Thien Hai (Vei) 2.5; Imad Hakki (Syr) 2.5 bt Abu S. Sakil (Ban) 1.5; Barlo Nadera (Phi) 1.5 lost to S. Chanda (Ind) 2.5; Anvar Nazarov (Tjk) 2.5 bt TDR Pieris (Sri) 1; Bye: N.K. Mishra (Ind).

Sixth round: Mahjoob 4 lost to Jun 5.5; Maghami 4.5 drew with Barsov 4.5; Al-Modiahki 4.5 bt Yurtaev 3.5; Vakhidov 4 drew with Nguyen 4; Z. Rahman 3.5 lost to Harikrishna 4.5; Wang Yue 3.5 lost to Iuldachev 4.5; Abdulla 4 drew with Dzhumaev 4; Li 4 drew with Thipsay 4; Peng 3.5 drew with Zagrebelny 3.5; Adianto 3 lost to Zhang 3.5; Barua 4 bt Wu 3; Wang Zili 4 bt Reefat 3; Ganguly 3.5 drew with Liang 3.5; Egin 3.5 drew with Magai 3.5; Safin 4 bt Donguines 3; Prasad 3.5 drew with Liang 3.5; Garma 2.5 lost to Vladimirov 3.5; Sasikiran 3.5 bt Liu 2.5; Paragua 2.5 lost to Sadvakasov 2.5; Kunte 3.5 bt Isaev 2.5; Torre 3 drew with Jha 3; Antonio 3 drew with Ravi 3; Yu 3.5 bt T. Rahman 2.5; Hossain 2.5 lost to Handszar 3.5; Kotsur 2 lost to Moradiabadi 3; Dao 2 lost to Konguvel 3; Al Sayed 2.5 drew with Annageldyev 2.5; Mallahi 3 bt Izmukhambetov 2; Lodhi 2 lost to Nolte 3 S.M. Rahman 2 lost to Kazhzaleyev 2.5; Villamayor 2.5 bt Nadera 1.5; Abu Sufian 1.5 lost to Kostenko 2.5; Turpanov 2.5 bt Hoang 1.5; Nazarov 1.5 lost to Wohl 2.5; Chanda 1.5 drew with Ghorbani 2; Mishra 1.5 drew with Hakki 1.5; Pieris 1 lost to Dableo 2.

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