JOIN USGrandmasters Parimarjan Negi and Abhijeet Gupta were back in contention with victories over Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam and Irwanto Sadikin of Indonesia, respectively, in the third round of Asian continental chess championship.
Having lost the second round against John Paul Gomez of Philippines, Negi called the shots with his white pieces and got an advantage in the ensuing middle game against Dung who could only pose resistance towards the end of the game.
A slight inaccuracy by Negi went unnoticed as Dung missed his only chance and the Indian’s pieces were all over the local hopeful.
Like Negi, Gupta too had an unfamiliar start drawing the first and losing the second round against unheralded Chinese Wang Chen.
In the third round however, Gupta showed his true mettle and outplayed Irwanto Sadikin of Indonesia in all departments of the game.
With six rounds still to go in the premier Asian event, the Chinese duo of Yu Yangyi and Liu Qingnan share the lead with a perfect score of three points.
India’s S P Sethuraman is the only Indian in proximity of the leaders on 2.5 points and shares the third spot, while Negi has 2 points.
Results (round III, Indians unless stated): Men: John Paul Gomez (Phi, 2) lt to Yu Yangyi (Chn, 3); Liu Qingnan (Chn, 3) bt Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan (Mgl, 2); MR Venkatesh (1.5) lt to Ding Liren (Chn, 1.5); Cao Sang (Vie, 2) drew Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (Iri, 2); Zhao Jun (Chn, 2.5) bt Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vie, 1.5); B Adhiban (1.5) lt to Nguyen Van Huy (Vie, 2.5); Wang Chen (Chn, 1.5) lt to SP Sethuraman (2.5); Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2) drew Wei Yi (Chn, 2); Parimarjan Negi (2) bt Nguyen Anh Dung (Vie, 1); Kirill Kuderinov (Kaz, 2) bt GN Gopal (1); Deepan Chakkravarthy (1.5) drew Rinat Jumabayev (Kaz, 1.5); Irwanto Sadikin (Ina, 0.5) lt to Abhijeet Gupta (1.5).
Women: Hoang Thi Bao Tram (Vie, 2.5) drew Munguntuul Batkhuyag (Mgl, 2.5); Tan Zhongyi (Chn, 2) lt to Irine Sukandar Kharisma (Ina, 3); Eesha Karavade (2) lt to Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (Mgl, 3); Zhao Xue (Chn, 2.5) bt Nafisa Muminova (Uzb, 1.5); Pham Le Thao Nguyen (Vie, 2) drew Nisha Mohota (2); Nguyen Thi Thanh An (Vie, 2.5) bt Mary Ann Gomes (1.5); B Pratyusha (1.5) lt to Ding Yixin (Chn, 2.5); Pham Thi Thu Hoai (Vie, 1) lt to Tania Sachdev (2); Padmini Rout (1.5) bt Ni Shiqun (Chn, 0.5); Nguyen Quynh Anh (Vie, 0.5) lt to Swathi Ghate (1.5); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (1.5) bt Dewi Aa Citra (Ina, 0.5).