India's Vijayalakshmi grabs share of lead

DUBAI - Early pace-setters Atousa and Aulia split points in Asian chess

Chennai star Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman, six-time national women's champion of India, beat Chinese WGM Zhang Xiaowen to barge into a three-way tie for the lead after round three in the women's section of the Asian Continental Chess Championship at the Hilton Hotel in Al Ain on Wednesday night.
In 2001, Vijayalakshmi, 36, became the country's first Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and was the first to earn the International Master (IM) norm in the men's category.
Tied with her on 3.5 points each are WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and WGM Aulia Medina Warda of Indonesia, the early leaders who drew with each other in 32 moves of a Scotch Four Knights game.
Five Indian women - WIM Pratyusha Bodda, IM Padmini Rout, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, WGM Mary Ann Gomes and IM Eesha Karavade - are among 11 players trailing the leaders at three points each. Tied with them are WGM Lei Tingjie and Wang Jue of China, Li Ruofan of Singapore, Mitra Hejazipour of Iran and WGM Madina Davletbayeva and Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan.
The top five advance to the World Cup next month in Baku, Azerbaijan in the men's event. The women's champion will represent Asia in the Fide Women's World Championship.
In the men's championship, co-leaders GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India and compatriot GM Prasanna Vishnu drew with each other in the fourth round to maintain a share of the lead with 3.5 points each. The draw between the co-leaders allowed two others, 27-year-old IM Lin Chen of Jiangsu, China, and 24-year-old GM Darini Pouria of Iran, to catch up and tie with 3.5 points each.
Ganguly used the Queen's Gambit Declined but neither side could gain the advantage and the game reached a drawn Queen and pawn endgame in 43 moves.
Lin used the Slav Defence to turn back GM Saleh AR Salem of the UAE. Salem played aggressively with the white pieces embarking on a kingside pawn storm. In classical response, Lin countered with a break in the centre to create passed pawns which he managed to promote to Queen and force resignation on the 57th move. Pouria set aside the challenge of GM Chanda Sandipan of India in 59 moves of a Ruy Lopez. In the transition to the endgame, Darini had the better pawn structure and a centralised King when Sandipan resigned on the 59th move.
Indian GMs Lalith Babu, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Abhijeet Gupta, Deep Sengupta and six others trail the leaders by half a point.
Tied with them at three points each are top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, GM Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan, GM Gao Rui and IM Wang Chen of China, GM Idani Pouya of Iran and GM Rustam Khusnutdinov of Kazakhstan.
The event is being organised by the Asian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and UAE Chess Federation.