Sasi scripts second straight success

India8217;s two GMs Pravin Thipsay 1 and Dibyendu Barua 1.5 drew their respective second round matches, while another double GM norm-holder Abhijit Kunte suffered his second consecutive defeat. Kunte, who is yet to open his account, lost to Suryashekhar Ganguly 1 of India, with black pieces.

Meanwhile, in the VIIIth women8217;s Asian Chess Championship played simultaneously at Udaipur, WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay agreed to split the point with the highest rated WGM playerof China, Qin Kanying in the second round, after a long six hours of play. Both Bhagyashree and Kanying, along with Uzbekistan8217;s WGM Mamedova Rena, have 1.5 points each and trail the three joint leaders 8212; WGMs Wang Pin of China, Tanima Pravin of Bangladesh and Kazhakhstan8217;s Sargeeva Tatania 8212; by half-a-point.

Results 2nd round
Men: Isaev Jamshed TJK 1.5 drew GM Peng Xiaomin CHN 1.5; GM Wang Zili CHN 1.5 drew IM Kayumov Dimitry UZB 1.5; GM Dao Thien Hai VTN 2 bt IM N Sudhakar Babu IND 1; IM K Sasikiran IND 2 bt Timothy Reilly AUST 1; Hatem Ibrahim Ahmed YMN 1 lost to GM Xu Jun CHN 0.5; GM Zhang Zhong CHN 1.5 bt P Harikrishna IND 1; IM R B Ramesh IND 1 drew GM Dibyendu Barua IND 1; IM G B Prakash IND 0.5 lost to GM Yuldashev Saydali UZB 2; IM Vahidov Tair UZB 1 drew Ghaem Meghami Ehsan IRN 1.5; IM Reefat Bin Satter BAN 1.5 bt IM Wu Wenjin CHN 0; S S Ganguly IND 1 bt IM Abhijit Kunte 0; GM Praveen Thipsay IND 0.5 drew S Kidambi IND 0.5; IM ZiaurRahman BAN 0.5 drew IM D V Prasad 0.5; Razaei Saravi Reza IRN 1 bye.

Women: WIM Bhagyasree Thipsay IND 1.5 drew WGM Qin Kanying CHN 1.5; WGM Wang Pin CHN 2 bt WIM Rani Hamid BAN 1; WFM Safira Shanaz IND 1 lost to WGM Hoang Thanh Trang VTN 2; Sargeeva Tatania KZK 2 bt WFM Tanima Pravin BAN 1; WGM Mamedova Rena UZB 1.5 bt WFM Xu Yuanyuan CHN 1; WIM S Vijaylakshmi IND 0.5 drew WIM Swati Ghate IND 0.5; WIM Koneru Humpy IND 1 bt Vineetha Wijesurya SL 0; WFM Narelle Szuveges AUS 0 lost to WIM Sargeeva Maria KZK 1; Siti Zulaika MAS 1 bye.