Sasi scripts second straight success

India’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 women’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 Uzbekistan’s WGM Mamedova Rena, have 1.5 points each and trail the three joint leaders — WGMs Wang Pin of China, Tanima Pravin of Bangladesh and Kazhakhstan’s Sargeeva Tatania — 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.