Sasikiran back in hunt in Asian Continental Chess

Leaving behind the opening round disappointment, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran scored a fine victory over International Master Homayoon Toufighi of Iran to remain in joint lead after round two of the Asian Continental Chess.

Subic Bay (Philippines): Leaving behind the opening round disappointment, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran

scored a fine victory over International Master Homayoon Toufighi of Iran to remain in joint lead after round two of the 12th Asian Continental Chess Championship here. International Master Tania Sachdev also overcame a shocking first round loss in the women`s section to beat Aices Salvador of Philippines. Playing the black side of a Sicilian Rossolimo, Sasikiran was able to get early complications wherein Toufighi went for an erroneous plan in the middle game. The Chennai lad was quick to turn the tide in his favour and scored his second victory without much ado. Among others, International Master S P Sethuraman defeated compatriot Padmini Rout to share a nine-way lead at the top. The other leaders are Chinese trio of Yu Ruiyuan, Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi, Filipinos Allan Macala, Oliver Barbosa and Wesley So, Susanto Magaranto of Indonesia. In the next round, Sasikiran will take on Magaranto while Sethuraman has an important game against Yangyi. Grandmaster P Harikrishna also recovered from a first round loss to post his first win in the tournament at the expense of Wang Li of China. The Indian was relentless in his effort and was a picture of confidence while outclassing Wang Li, who had lost his first round to Abhijeet Gupta. Abhijeet, however, ended on the losing end against Oliver Barbosa after misplaying a better position out of a Queen pawn game. Playing black, Abhijeet did the right things in the middle game but missed the thread of the position when it mattered. Barbosa worked his pieces well to register an emphatic win in the end. S Meenakshi also had a bad day in office as she went down fighting against top seeded Ju Wenjun of China while Kiran Manisha Mohanty played out a draw with Ghazal Hakimifrad of Iran. The Asian Continental Chess Championships are played under FIDE`s Swiss rules and there will be nine rounds in all. In the open, there are five seats up for grabs for the next world cup while the winner in the women`s section will qualify for the women`s world cup next year. In addition there is a prize fund of USD 50000 in the open and USD 15000 in the women`s section. PTI