TEHRAN, Aug 6: National champion Anupama Gokhale shares the lead with two points along with the top seed Women Grandmaster Eva Repkova of Lebanon and Shabana Parveen of Bangladesh at the end of the second round of the Asian Zonals Chess Championship, here today.In men's, International Master Ponnuswamy Konguvel shares the lead with Grandmaster Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh and Enamul Hossain (Bangladesh) with two points from as many rounds.Playing white against Safira Shanaz (1 points), Anupama went for Queen-Side offensive in Bogo-Indian defence. Safira came under acute time pressure and blundered a rook to resign after a few moves.The lone woman Grandmaster in the field Eva Repkova (2) of Lebanon played irregular opening with black pieces against Swati Ghate's (1) King Pawn opening. Fumbling for the correct plan Swati handed over the initiative to lose two pawns and the game after 30 moves.In an all-Indian clash involving International Women's Masters, Vijayalaxmi Subbaraman (1.5) drew with M Saritha (1.5) after a marathon endgame in Dutch defence. Konguvel (2) employed Panov-Botvinik variation against Ali Jalal's Caro Kann defence. Konguvel posted his knight firmly in the centre to subdue the Iraqi. National champion Abhijit Kunte (1) was shocked by Bangladesh teenager Enamul Hossain (2) in Sicilian defence. I M Lanka Ravi demonstrated a text book like endgame to outplay Abdul Gafoor (Qatar) in Queen's Gambit opening. International Master Devki Prasad (1) displayed his attacking prowess to demolish Mohd. Altaher of UAE in 28 moves of Sicilian Paulsen defence.IM K Murugan bounced back after a draw in the first round to outplay Al Obaide of Kuwait in Benko gambit.RESULTS: Men: M Ghorbani (Iraq, 1.5) drew M Lodhi (Pakistan, 1.5); M Ghaem (Iran, 1.5) drew Al-Modiahaki (Qatar, 1.5); A Hadrani (Yemen, 1.5) bt A Najjar (Lebanon, 0.5); A Bagheri (Iran, 1) bt Amiad Ali (Bangladesh, 0)Women: Rani Hamid (Bangladesh, 1) bt Wasila Kuder (Syria); Taraif Ahmed (Bangladesh, 0) lost to S Navari (Iran); Paridar (Iran, 1) bt P Karimi (Iran); Mona Mahini (Iran, 1) bt A Hussain.
