The Asian Continental Chess Championships 2015 are currently in progress in Al Ain, UAE.
Tournament website/ Men’s Tournament LIVE games/ Women’s Tournament LIVE games
Indian GMs Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Vishnu Prasanna beat their respective opponents to share the lead with perfect 3 point slates after as many rounds of the $87,000 Asian Continental Championship at the Hilton Hotel in Al Ain, UAE. In the women`s division, 18-year-old WGM Aulia Medina Warda of Indonesia and Iranian WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan are tied for the lead with 3 points each.
Ganguly, 32, 6-time Indian national champion from Kolkata and winner of the Asian Continental championship in 2009, used the Maroczy Bind against the Sicilian defense of GM Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan and won in a marathon 72 moves. Well known as one of the seconds in the team of former world champion Viswanthan Anand, Ganguly works as a Deputy Manager at the Indian Oil Corporation.
Vishnu Prasanna crushed the Caro Kann Defense of compatriot Lalith Babu. Prasanna penetrated with his Rooks on the open c-file and controlled the dark squares. He pried open the castled king with a Knight sacrifice and weaved a mating net with Queen and Bishop to force resignation on the 36th move. Prasnna, 26, hails from Chennai and works for the Airports Authority of India.
Three more Indians are in a group of eight, a half point behind the leaders, namely GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Chanda Sandipan and Abhijeet Gupta. Tied with 2.5 points each in second slot are local hero Saleh A.R. Salem of the UAE, Chinese IM Lin Chen and IM Wang Chen and Iranians GM Idani Pouya and GM Darini Pouria.
Gujrathi, 21, winner of the World Youth Under-14 in 2008, used the Gruenfeld Defense to beat GM Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam in 34 moves. Gupta employed the Tartakower System against the Modern Defense of GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan to win in 35 moves. Sandipan and Chinese IM Wang Chen drew in a marathon 100 moves of a Queen`s Gambit Declined.
In the women`s division, Pourkashiyan crushed the Sicilian defense of erstwhile leader Padmini Rout of India delivering checkmate on the 41st move.
Pourkashiyan ignored the threat on her Rook 35… e3 36. Qg4+ Kf8 (diagram) 37. Bxd5 Rc7 38. Qh5 Qa7 39. Qxh6+ Ke8 40. Bc6+ Ke7 41. Re5# 1-0Aulia Medina Warda used the French Defense against Iranian Raana Hakimifard to force resignation in 34 moves.
Three Indians follow a half point behind the leaders, namely WGM Soumya Swaminathan, WGM Mary Ann Gomes and IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman. Tied with them at 2.5 points each are WGM Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan and WGM Zhang Xiaowen of China.
The event is organized by the Asian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and UAE Chess Federation.
Six tournaments are scheduled with a top prize of $11,000 for first place in the Men`s and $6,000 first prize in the women`s championship. Rapid chess and blitz tournaments are scheduled in both the men`s and women`s divisions with a total of $12,000 in cash prizes.
Tournaments will be conducted as 9 round Swiss System events. The top five advance to the World Cup next month in Baku, Azerbaijan. The women`s champion shall represent Asia in the FIDE Women`s World Championship.
Men’s Tournament standings after Round 3:
1 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2631 3
2 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2502 3
3 IM Lin Chen CHN 2494 2,5
4 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2644 2,5
5 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2585 2,5
6 GM Idani Pouya IRI 2568 2,5
7 IM Wang Chen CHN 2524 2,5
8 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2619 2,5
9 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2595 2,5
10 GM Darini Pouria IRI 2501 2,5
11 Yuan Qingyu CHN 2359 2
12 IM Chu Wei Chao CHN 2318 2
13 CM Alattar Rakan JOR 2012 2
14 GM Lalith Babu M.R. IND 2570 2
15 GM Vakhidov Jahongir UZB 2525 2
16 IM Tabatabaei M.Amin IRI 2458 2
17 GM Hossain Enamul BAN 2436 2
18 IM Lou Yiping CHN 2454 2
19 GM Kostenko Petr KAZ 2431 2
20 IM Karthikeyan P. IND 2426 2
21 GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2493 2
22 Xu Yinglun CHN 2463 2
23 Utegaliyev Azamat KAZ 2469 2
24 GM Sasikiran Krishnan IND 2640 2
25 GM Gao Rui CHN 2528 2
26 GM Le Quang Liem VIE 2699 2
27 GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan IRI 2609 2
28 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son VIE 2662 2
29 GM Zhou Jianchao CHN 2600 2
30 GM Sengupta Deep IND 2594 2
31 GM Rahman Ziaur BAN 2509 2
32 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2509 2
33 GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2510 2
34 GM Dzhumaev Marat UZB 2493 1,5
35 IM Wang Yiye CHN 2439 1,5
36 Maghsoodloo Parham IRI 2416 1,5
37 IM Abdyjapar Asyl KGZ 2392 1,5
38 IM Rathnakaran K. IND 2417 1,5
39 IM Nitin S. IND 2404 1,5
40 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2635 1,5
41 FM Li Di CHN 2384 1,5
42 Liu Chang CHN 2353 1,5
43 GM Zhang Zhong SIN 2628 1,5
44 GM Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan MGL 2492 1,5
45 GM Koneru Humpy IND 2585 1,5
46 GM Batchuluun Tsegmed MGL 2485 1,5
47 IM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan IND 2481 1,5
48 GM Nguyen Duc Hoa VIE 2500 1,5
49 GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy VIE 2496 1,5
50 GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib BAN 2473 1,5
51 IM Nezad Husein Aziz QAT 2404 1,5
52 IM Saiyn Zhanat KAZ 2404 1,5
53 CM Shrestha Keshav NEP 2118 1,5
54 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2562 1,5
55 FM Tologontegin Semetey KGZ 2390 1
56 FM Xu Yi CHN 2365 1
57 IM Isaev Jamshed TJK 2300 1
58 FM Saeed Ishaq UAE 2252 1
59 FM Bayarmandakh Balgan MGL 2225 1
60 Asgharzadeh M.Reza IRI 2276 1
61 FM Abdulwahhab Ahmed Abdulsattar IRQ 2297 1
62 FM Ayyad Maher BRN 2122 1
63 CM Al-Hajiri Bader KUW 2238 1
64 Mamyrbay Assad KAZ 2217 1
65 GM Sharavdorj Dashzegve MGL 2423 1
66 IM Pascua Haridas PHI 2447 1
67 IM Lodhi Mahmood PAK 2310 1
68 Xu Xiangyu CHN 2257 1
69 FM Galappaththi Chinthaka Anurud SRI 2066 1
70 Al Houti Houd OMA 0 1
71 GM Debashis Das IND 2489 1
72 GM Venkatesh M.R. IND 2484 1
73 IM Asgarizadeh Ahmad IRI 2407 0,5
74 FM Salih Akar Ali Salih IRQ 2359 0,5
75 FM Byambaa Zulzaga MGL 2258 0,5
76 IM Iyti Basher SYR 2305 0,5
77 FM Hj Azahari Md Aliuddin BRU 2024 0,5
78 IM Baimurzin Aitkazy KAZ 2096 0
79 Nassar Marwan LIB 2030 0
80 Ezizov Jumamuhammet TKM 1789 0
81 Bahaa M.T. Maswada PLE 1855 0
82 Sulimani Yaser KSA 1760 0
83 Bukhari Mohameed KSA 1737 0
Women’s Tournament standings after Round 3:
1 WGM Aulia Medina Warda INA 2412 3
2 WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa IRI 2341 3
3 WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND 2325 2,5
4 WGM Gomes Mary Ann IND 2314 2,5
5 WGM Saduakassova Dinara KAZ 2401 2,5
6 WGM Zhang Xiaowen CHN 2376 2,5
7 IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman IND 2341 2,5
8 Hakimifard Raana IRI 2084 2
9 WIM Pratyusha Bodda IND 2194 2
10 IM Padmini Rout IND 2444 2
11 Hong Xing CHN 1882 2
12 WGM Lei Tingjie CHN 2436 2
13 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2412 2
14 WGM Kulkarni Bhakti IND 2262 2
15 WIM Hejazipour Mitra IRI 2321 2
16 WIM Dauletova Gulmira KAZ 2278 2
17 WIM Davletbayeva Madina KAZ 2243 2
18 WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An VIE 2219 2
19 WGM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan KAZ 2327 2
20 IM Mohota Nisha IND 2259 2
21 WIM Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz UZB 2264 2
22 WGM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung VIE 2227 2
23 IM Shen Yang CHN 2443 2
24 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2409 2
25 WIM Zhai Mo CHN 2406 2
26 WGM Wang Jue CHN 2360 2
27 IM Li Ruofan SIN 2374 2
28 WGM Enkhtuul Altan-Ulzii MGL 2269 2
29 WIM Otgonjargal Sengeravdan MGL 2213 1,5
30 WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2512 1,5
31 WFM Li Yunshan CHN 1835 1,5
32 IM Tania Sachdev IND 2390 1,5
33 WFM Asgarizadeh Minoo IRI 2180 1,5
34 WIM Hakimifard Ghazal IRI 2219 1
35 WIM Al-Rufaye Iman Hasan Mohammed IRQ 2088 1
36 Khalaji Hanieh IRI 1965 1
37 Mir Mahmoud Afamia SYR 1949 1
38 Chu Ruotong CHN 2048 1
39 Liu Manli CHN 1995 1
40 WIM Shamima Akter Liza BAN 2155 1
41 WFM Boshra Alshaeby JOR 1987 1
42 WIM Nouman Amna UAE 1935 1
43 WFM Alattar Ghayda M. JOR 1913 1
44 IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen VIE 2332 1
45 WIM Le Kieu Thien Kim VIE 2226 1
46 Faqeeh Aseel JM PLE 1599 1
47 WCM Ezizova Bagul TKM 1518 1
48 WFM Antonova Nadezhda TJK 2011 0,5
49 WIM Al-Zarouni Kholoud Essa UAE 1840 0,5
50 WIM Algildah Nibal SYR 1920 0,5
51 Alymbay Kyzy Aizhan KGZ 1903 0,5
52 WCM Al Maamari Wafia Darwish UAE 1500 0,5
53 WFM Hj Azahari Siti Nur Fatimah BRU 2073 0,5
54 Aseel Odeh JOR 1588 0
55 WIM Al-Harmoudi Mona UAE 1745 0
56 WIM Ankhchimeg Bayanmunkh MGL 2180 0
57 WFM Al Dhaffari Salma UAE 1655 0
