Gupta now shares the lead with Surya Shekhar Ganguly and A.R. Salem Saleh of the UAE on 5.5 points from seven rounds
Abhijeet Gupta
Al Ain (UAE): Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta crashed through the solid defences of China’s Lin Chen to join the leaders pack after the seventh round of the Asian continental chess championship here on Sunday.
Gupta was in his elements against overnight joint leader Lin Chen as the latter was outplayed in the endgame after offering stiff resistance. For the records, it was a Slav defense wherein Gupta managed to complicate matters in the middle game as white and after regulation exchanges a queen and pawn endgame was reached.
Gupta now shares the lead with Surya Shekhar Ganguly and A.R. Salem Saleh of the UAE on 5.5 points from seven rounds. While Ganguly played out an easy draw as white against top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Salem Saleh rose back in reckoning defeating Indian national champion S.P. Sethuraman.
With just two rounds to come in the premier event of the continent, as many as seven players share the fourth spot with five points each. Indian Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran, Vidit Gujrathi and Deep Sengupta are among those having five points each.
( Source : PTI )
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