Grandmaster and former national champion B. Adhiban bounced back from an inferior position to beat Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh and remain in joint lead after the sixth round of Asian Continental chess championships here on Wednesday.
Thanks to the hard-earned win, Adhiban can now hope for a decent finish, which can find him in the coveted top five slots. The top five here will earn a seat in the 2015 World Chess Cup at Baku in Azerbaijan.
With just three rounds remaining in this championship, which is a part of the next world championship cycle, Adhiban shared the lead with former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan and Yu Yangyi of China.
In control Adhiban made the most of his chances against Rahman after surviving some anxious moments in middle game.
Playing white and opting for the Catalan opening, Rahman got a tangible advantage out of the opening and controlled the centre and the queenside.
Adhiban got a chance when a serious lapse in concentration by Rahman led to complexities and the Indian sacrificed a Bishop to rip apart white’s king side. The other overnight leader S.P. Sethuraman, however, could not keep the momentum going as he lost to world junior champion Yu Yangyi. K. Sasikiran and Parimarjan Negi scored morale-boosting victories and readied themselves for the final lap.
In the women’s championship, the prospects of Indians suffered a setback as IM Tania Sachdev succumbed to Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran. Tania got an optical advantage, but Atousa was up to the task in this keenly contested game.
Important and Indian results (sixth round): Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ, 4) lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB, 5); S.P. Sethuraman (4) lost to Yu Yangyi (CHN, 5); Ziaur Rahman (BAN, 4) lost to B. Adhiban (5); Ni Hua (CHN, 4.5) bt Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (IRI, 4).
Al-Sayed Mohammed (QAT, 3.5) lost to Bu Xiangzhi (CHN, 4.5); K. Sasikiran (4) bt Debashis Das (3); Parimarjan Negi (4) bt Pouya Idani (IRI, 3); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (3.5) drew with Abhijit Kunte (3.5).
Dao Thien Hai (VIE, 3.5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (3.5); Jahongir Vakhidov (UZB, 3.5) drew with G.N. Gopal (3.5).
Wan Yunguo (CHN, 3.5) drew with V. Vishnu Prasanna (3.5); Gao Rui (CHN, 2.5) lost to Abhijeet Gupta (3.5); M. Shyam Sundar (2.5) lost to Deep Sengupta (3.5); Vaibhav Suri (3) drew with Amirreza Pourramezanali (IRI, 3).
M.R. Lalith Babu (3) bt Omar Noaman (UAE, 2.5); Al-Hadarani Hatim (YEM, 3) bt Akshat Khamparia (2).
Women: Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (IRI, 4) lost to Irine Kharisma Sukandar (INA, 5.5); Gong Qianyun (CHN, 4.5) bt Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL, 3.5); Tania Sachdev (3.5) lost to Atousa Pourkashiyan (IRI, 4.5).
Hoang Thi Bao Tram (VIE, 4.5) bt Ni Shiqun (CHN, 2.5); Nguyen Thi Thanh An (VIE, 3.5) drew with Eesha Karavade (3.5).
Soumya Swaminathan (3.5) bt Hulkar Tohirjonova (UZB, 2.5); Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (VIE, 3) drew with Swathi Ghate (2.5); Assaubayeva Bibissara (KAZ, 2.5) drew with Mary Ann Gomes (2.5).
