Ganguly, Vijayalakshmi In Joint Lead

Ganguly, Vijayalakshmi In Joint Lead
By Arvind aaron

Six time Indian champion Surya S Ganguly drew Lin Chen of China to maintain his top slot in the Asian Continental Chess Championship that is taking place at Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

Ganguly and Lin Chen are on five points from six games and three rounds remain to be played.

There are six players in the third place with 4.5 points and it includes Vidit Gujrathi, Sethuraman and Abhijeet Gupta.

In the women’s section, S Vijayalakshmi, 1979-born India’s first Woman Grand Master shocked the top seed Tan Zhongyi of China with the white pieces. She leads with Mitra Hejazipour of Iran with five points from six games.

Sharing the third position are six players and it includes former Indian champion Mary Ann Gomes. Soumya Swaminathan and Pratyusha are on four points. Pratyusha is close to making a WGM norm as she drew Eesha Karavade in the sixth round. Her rating performance is above 2418.

The Asian Continental events selects players for the FIDE World Cup in men and the World Women Championships. It is organised at Al-Ain Hilton.