The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Ganguly, Chanda in joint second spot

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Ganguly, Chanda in joint second spot

NEW DELHI: Grandmasters Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda drew their ninth round games and slipped to the joint second spot while local hope Regelio Anotnio (Jr.) emerged as the only leader with seven points in the Asian chess championship at Subic, Olongapo City, in the the Philippines on Thursday.

In the two encounters featuring Indian and Chinese joint leaders, Ganguly drew with Zhou Weiqi in 39 moves, while Sandipan defended well with black pieces to hold Hou Yifan in 70 moves. On the third board, Antonio defeated China’s Le Quang Liem in 69 moves to take the lead.

Top seed K. Sasikiran kept alive his chances of snatching one of the 10 qualifying spots for the World Cup by beating China’s Ding Liren. Among the women, Swati Ghate (5.5 points) lost to overnight leader, eighth-seeded Chinese Zhang Xiaowen (7.5) on the top board. S. Meenakshi (6) defeated teammate Nisha Mohota to emerge as the Indian front-runner in the qualifying race for the World Cup.

The results (ninth round, involving Indians): Open: S.S. Ganguly (6.5) drew with Zhou Weiqi (Chn, 6.5); Hou Yifan (Chn, 6.5) drew with Sandipan Chanda (6.5); Abhijit Kunte (6) drew with Yu Shaoteng (Chn, 6); K. Sasikiran (6) bt Ding Liren (Chn, 5.5); Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 6) bt Abhijeet Gupta (5); Gao Rui (Chn, 4.5) lost to Parimarjan Negi (5.5); D. Harika (4.5) drew with Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iri, 4.5); Mark Paragua (Phi, 4.5) drew with Vidit Gujarathi (4.5); Mas Hafizulhelmi (Mas, 4) lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy (5); Ronald Bancod (Phi, 3.5) lost to Aswin Jayaram (4.5); Evgeniy Pak (Kaz, 4.5) bt K. Priyadarshan (3.5); Askshayraj Kore (4) drew with Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Phi, 4).

Women: Swati Ghate (5.5) lost to Zhang Xiaowen (Chn, 7.5); Hoang Thi Bao Tram (Vie, 5.5) drew with Eesha Karavade (5.5); S. Meenakshi (6) bt Nisha Mohota (4.5); Zhu Chen (Qat, 5) drew with Tania Sachdev (5); Dang Bich Ngoc (Vie, 4) drew with Kruttika Nadig (4).

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