Vijayalakshmi shocks Repkova

Vijayalakshmi8217;s compatriots IWM Anupama Gokhale and Saritha Reddy shared the third spot with Iranian Paridhar Shirin with 2.5 points apiece.

In the men8217;s section, Bangladeshi Grandmaster Niaz Murshed snatched the lead with four points defeating IM Mehmood Lodhi of Pakistan.

Lodhi occupied the second place along with Indian IMs Abhijit Kunte, Ponnuswamy Konguvel, Lanka Ravi, K Murugan 8212; 3.5 points each.

With a tally of three points, IM D V Prasad Ind shared the third spot with Ghorbani M Iran and Omearat Adel Syria.

Vijayalaxmi adopted an English opening and went for queenside expansion. Repkova 3 tried desperately for a king-side attack which was not there. After putting stop to Repkova8217;s king-side attack Vijayalaxmi went on a pawn-grabbing spree on the queenside. The Women Grandmaster finally resigned on the 68th moves.

In an irregular opening IWM Anupama 2.5 signed the peace treaty with IWM Saritha 3.after 44 moves. Veteran IWM Rani Hamid 3 of Bangladesh showed glimpses of her glorious past to defeat 20-year-old engineering student Safira Shanaz 1.5 of India.

In the men8217;s section, in an all-Indian affair Lanka Ravi 3.5 and National champion Kunte 3.5. played out a 23-move draw.

IM Murugan 3.5 had to use all his experience to overcome young IM Al-Modiahaki 2 of Qatar.

Third-seed Konguvel was fortunate to escape with a draw against teenage sensation Enamul Hossian 3.5 of Bangladesh.