Local favourite and International Master Sriram Jha brightened up his chances of of qualifying for the World Cup after his stunning victory over top seed Ziaur Rahman in the seventh round of the Asian Zone 3.2 Chess Championship here on Thursday.
Results: Men (seventh round): Praveen Thipsay (5.5) drew K Rathnakran (4.5); Neelotpal Das (6.0) bt Surbir Lama (Nepal, 2.5); Deepan Chakkravarthy (5.0) bt Ahmed Ashraf (Mal, 1.0); Sriram Jha (5.5) bt Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 4.5); Amir Karim (Pak, 2.0) bt Hapurachchi (SL, 1.0); Reefat Bin-Sattar (Ban, 2.0) bt Gillani Tunveer (Pak, 2.5).
Women (fifth round): Tania Sachdev (4.0) drew Swathi Ghate (1.0); Nisha Mohota (3.0) bt Sachini Ranasinghe (SL, 1.0); Kruttika Nadig (3.5) bt Monalisa Khumboo (Nep, 0).
Published 13 August 2009, 16:32 IST