Rasht surge ahead

By Gopakumar

Bhubaneswar (28 Aug 17) :- Top seed Iranian team Rasht moved to sole lead with eight match points after defeating host KIIT Bhubaneswar 3 – 1 in the fourth round of Asian Cities Chess Championship which is now underway here at Kalinga Institute Industrial Technology on Monday.

The battle between top two sides produced much excitement to the crowd till the end. For Rasht, International Master Soozankar Amir Mohamad and Sadeh Shahin produced decisive results on third and fourth boards against seasoned campaigner Sekhar Chandra Sahu and Utkal Ranjan Sahoo, respectively while top two board’s games ended in peace treaties.

In other fourth round encounters, Kolkata beat Dubai while Dhaka out smarted Puri. KISS Bhubaneswar opened their account in the championship after beating Cuttack and Muscat and Chinese Taipei match ended in 2 – 2 score line.

Earlier in the third round, Rasht defeated Kolkata 3 – 1 while KIIT Bhubaneswar convincingly outwitted Alquds 4 – 0.

Important Results Round-4 :- KIIT Bhubanewar (6) lost to Rasht (8) 1 – 3 ; Kolkata (6) beat Dubai (3) 3½ – ½; Puri (3) lost Dhaka (5) 1½ – 2½ ; Penang (5) beat Alquds (3) 4 – 0; Muscat (3) drew with Chinese Taipei (4) 2 – 2 ; KISS Bhubaneswar (2) beat Cuttack (0) 2½ – 1½ .

Important Results Round-3 :- Rasht (6) beat Kolkata (4) 3 – 1; Alquds (3) lost to KIIT Bhubaneswar (6) 0 – 4; Dubai (3) drew with Penang (3) 2 – 2; Chinese Taipei (3) drew with Puri (3) 2 – 2; Dhaka (3) beat Cuttack (0) 3 – 1; Muscat (2) beat KISS Bhubaneswar (0) 3 -1