Negi off to winning start

Fresh from his exploits in the Dubai International Open,where he finished second,Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi scored a thumping victory over Lou Yiping of China to start the Asian Championships on a positive note.

Fresh from his exploits in the Dubai International Open,where he finished second,Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi scored a thumping victory over Lou Yiping of China to start the Asian Championships on a positive note.

Negi played a fine game with white to beat Yiping. It was a French defense by the latter in which Parimarjan went for the Winawer variation and seized the initiative with excellent attacking moves in the middle game. Yiping lost a piece under pressure and it was childs play for the Indian thereafter.

Another Indian to start well was former world junior champion,P Harikrishna,who defeated compatriot International Master Vidit Gujarathi,while Abhijeet Kunte scored over local hopeful Saeid Arabi. At the top of the tables former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov split the point with Dao Thein Hai of Vietnam while highly regarded Chinese Bu Xiangzhi scored over Lu Shanglei.

Amongst other Indians in the fray,former national champion B Adhiban conceded half point to Debashish Das,while in the shocker of the day,Grandmaster GN Gopal had to call it a day against Irans Alavi Sayed Javad.

The Asian championships are part of the next world championship cycle with nine rounds in each section. There are four seats up for grabs in the open section while the champion in the women’s will find her way to the next World Cup.

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