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Chess
Delhi slips to joint sixth place
ADEN (YEMEN), FEB. 10 A defeat at the hands of Doha (Qatar) and a draw with Amman (Jordan) saw Delhi slip to joint sixth position on 8.5 points after the fourth round of the Asian cities chess championship here.
The other Indian team in the fray, Lucknow, however, put up a spirited show to move on 8 points after winning both its matches with an identical 2.5-1.5 margin against Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and host Aden (Yemen) respectively.
Two rounds were played yesterday and the Pavlodar city of Kazakhstan proved its superiority in the tournament with two resounding victories over Namangan (Uzbekistan) and Jakarta (Indonesia) with a margin of 3-1 and 3.5-0.5 respectively. Pavlodar leads the field with 13.5 points after the fourth round. The second place is held by Manila on 11.5 points after a good show against Namagan in the fourth round. Maila beat the all-grandmasters team with 3-1 margin.
Doha lies a surprise third on 10.5 points and Tehran (Iran), led by grandmaster Ghaem Mghami Ehsan, is in fourth position on 10 points. Namagan slipped to fifth position from second after a dismal performance in the third and fourth rounds. The Delhi team failed to cash in on the opportunities in the first match against Doha and eventually lost by 1.5-2.5 margin. On the top board, Gurpreet Pal Singh proved little match for GM Al Modaihki Mohamad and lost rather tamely while Karun Duggal obtained a similar result with reckless play on board three. G. B. Joshi was the lone winner as he hammered international master Al Sayed Mohamad with a brilliant attack. Vishal Sareen drew with rookie Al Marri Omar in a game of fluctuating fortunes. But Joshi could not sustain his form in the fourth round and went down fighting to Mahmoud Abdelrehman of Amman from the black side of a king's Indian defence. Surprised by a rather off-beat variation by his opponent, Joshi failed to capitalise on his chances in the middlegame and got a few fixed weaknesses on the king side that cost him dearly. The game lasted 46 moves.
Karun Duggal failed yet again - a clear indication that his lack of exposure at international level is no good news for the Delhi team. Playing white against Naiem Moussa, Karun faced the French defence through transposition and blundered early in the opening to lose three pieces for the queen. The
rest was easy for Moussa and he pocketed the game in just 37 moves.
Gurpreet Pal Singh and Vishal Sareen scored victories for Delhi on top board and fourth board respectively. Vishal was the quicker one as he easily outmanoeuvred Al Kailani Zaid with black pieces while Gurpreet Pal Singh scored a hard fought victory over Khaleel Youseif.
For Lucknow Vivek Shukla scored an important victory outplaying Sharaf Gawad on board one while Arif Ali defeated Abdul Razak to give his team an unassailable lead. The third board between Devendra Bajpai and Naser Kamal was drawn while Junaid Ahmed lost to Abdul Moula Sabri on the fourth board.
Standings after fourth round:1. Pavlodar (Kaz) 13.5 points; 2. Manila (Phi) 11.5 ; 3. Doha (Qat) 10.5 ; 4. Tehran (Iri) 10 ; 5. Namangan (Uzb) 9 ; 6-8. Delhi, Jakarta (Ina), Baghdad (Irq) 8.5 each; 9. Lucknow 8 ; 10. Amman (Jrd) 7.5 points 11-12. Sanaa, Aden (both Yemen) 7 ; 13-14; Dubai (UAE), Kuala Lumpur (Mal) 6.5 ; 15-16. Al Mukallah (Yem), Colombo (Sri) 6 ; 17. Taiz (Yem) 5.5 ; 18. Al Mukahra (Bah) 4 .- PTI.
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