MUMBAI, MARCH 12: Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua and International Woman Master Bhagyashree Thipsay became the sole leaders as the Datamatics Asian Zonal Chess Championships reached the half-way stage at Club Aquaria, Borivli here today.Barua won against Zia-ur-Rehman for five points from six rounds. Pravin Thipsay, the overnight joint leader, drew with Abdullah Al-Rakib in just 15 moves to trail Barua by half a point.Bhagyashree (3.5 points from four rounds) won against the oldest participant in the championships, 55-year-old Rani Hamid and moved one point clear of second placed, Swati Ghate (2.5 points). Bhagyashree remains well in contention while the competitors have some hard-work to catch up with the leader and earn the only berth for the World Championships at Maldova.Barua came up with a brilliant knight sacrifice (Nh2) that broke Zia's castle from an English opening game to win after 32 moves.Thipsay played the Perc Defence against Al-Rakib. The queens and two minor pieces were exchanged and the position on the board became symmetrical and the players called for truce after just 15 moves.Anup Deshmukh played a brilliant attacking game to win against M Waqar in 37 moves. From the French Defence advance variation, Deshmukh gained a plus position and was a pawn up tactically. He built up the pressure on the white King but a blunder, placing his bishop on g5, cost him some moves but his superiority was never in doubt. Waqar came under time pressure and gave up three pawns for a single knight. His king also lay exposed with Deshmukh's queen and rook in active positions.Abhijit Kunte and Sasikiran played out a 38-move draw which was replete with mistakes from both players. Kunte had the advantage from the opening lost it through bad play. Sasikiran did likewise until the game reached a more-or-less drawish endgame.V Saravanan defeated the whipping boy of the championship, Badri Nepali, of Nepal in just 20 moves while Pakistani Mahmood Lodhi blundered after he and Enamul Hussain had opposite coloured bishops in the endgame with equal number of pawns.In the women's section, Bhagyashree always had a good position against Rani Hamid. But she overlooked a move where she could have won Rani's queen. Bhagyashree's queen had support. But it proved a minor aberration as she went on to win comfortably. Rani took a light-hearted look at the defeat saying: ``I went shopping yesterday and forgot the opening!''Top seed Vijayalakshmi's slender (if any) chance of catching up with Bhagyashree, was lost when she drew with her room-mate N Sarita Reddy. Sarita had had some initiative but nothing worth while to convert it into a victory and the players agreed to a draw.Nisha Mohota, who had the best chance of joining the leader yesterday, lost again today, to Shabana Parveen. But Swati Ghate has won today and though she is one point adrift, she appears to best chance to catch up with the leader.ResultsMen's (sixth round): IM Abdullah al-Rakib (2405, Bangladesh) 3.5 points drew with GM Pravin Thipsay (2467, India) 4.5 points; IM Zia-ur-Rehman (2498, Bangladesh) 3 points lost to GM Dibyendu Barua (2538, India) 5 points; IM Mahmood Lodhi (2420, Pakistan) 3 points lost to Enamul Hussain (2310, Bangladesh) 3 points; IM Abhijit Kunte (2455, India) 3.5 points drew with IM K Sasikiran (2535, India) 3 points; M Waqar (2240, Pakistan) 1 point lost to Anup Deshmukh (2430, India) 2.5 points; Badri Nepali (2185, Nepal) 0 lost to V Saravanan (2396, India) 4 points.Women (fourth round): Shabana Parveen (2075, Bangladesh) 2 bt IWM Nisha Mohota (2157, India) 2; IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay (2235, India) 3.5 points bt IWM Rani Hamid (2150, Bangladesh) 1.5 points; IWM Swati Ghate (2194, India) 2.5 points bt IWM Pallavi Shah (2230, India) 1 point; IWM S Vijayalakshmi (2329, India) 2 points drew with IWM N Sarita Reddy (2231, India) 1.5 points.Best Women's game of the dayIWM Bhagyashree Thipsay (2235) IWM Rani Hamid (2150) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qc7 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be2 a6 7. 0-0 Nf6 8. Be2 Be7 9. f4 d6 10. Kh1 0-0 11. a4 Bd7 12. Nb3 b6 13. Bf3 Rfd8 14. Qe2 Be8 15. g4 Nd7 16. g5 Na5 17. Nd4 Nc4 18. Bc1 Rac8 19. f5 Qc5 20. Qd1 Nde5 21. Bg2 Nc6 22. Nb3 Qb4 23. Ne2 d5 24. exd5 exd5 25. c3 Qd6 26. Nbd4 Nxd4 27. Nxd4 Qd7 28. f6 Bc5 29. fxg7 Ne5 30. Nf5 d4 31. b4 Bc7 32. cxd4 Bxb4 33. Bb2 Nc4 1-0
