Swati Ghate surprises Zhu Chen

Swati Ghate surprises Zhu Chen
Thursday, May 21, 2009

NEW DELHI: Swati Ghate stunned top seeded Grandmaster and former women’s World champion Zhu Chen in the ladies’ eighth round of the Asian chess championship at Subic, Olongapo City, in the Philippines on Wednesday.

The Pune-based Woman Grandmaster now has 5.5 points and shares the fourth spot with two others. China’s Zhang Xiaowen leads with 6.5 points, half-a-point ahead of her two compatriots. Three more rounds remain.

In the open section, overnight leaders Sandipan Chanda and Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew as expected, in 32 moves, to reach six points. China’s Hou Yifan, Zhou Weiqi and Filipino Rogelio Antonio (Jr.) won their games to join the two Indians in the lead.

The results (eighth round, involving Indians):

Open: Sandipan Chanda (6) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (6); Parimarjan Negi (4.5) lost to Abhijit Kunte (5.5); Abhijeet Gupta (5) drew with Mohammad Al Sayed (Qat, 5); Bui Vinh (Vie, 4) lost to K. Sasikiran (5); Deepan Chakkravarthy (4) lost to Zhou Jianchao (Chn, 5); K. Priadarshan (3.5) lost to Gao Rui (Chn, 4.5); D. Harika (4) bt Zhang Ziyang (Chn, 3); Aswin Jayaram (3.5) drew with Jayson Gonzales (Phi, 3.5); Vidit Gujarathi (4) bt David Elorta (Phi, 3); Abdullah Hassan (UAE, 3) lost to Akshayraj Kore (3.5).

Women: Swati Ghate (5.5) bt Zhu Chen (Qat, 4.5); Eesha Karavade (5) drew with Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mgl, 5); Tania Sachdev (4.5) lost to Gu Xiaobing (Chn, 5.5); Nisha Mohota (4.5) drew with Nafisa Muminova (Uzb, 4.5); Xu Huahua (Chn, 4) lost to Subbraman Meenakshi (5); Kruttika Nadig (3.5) drew with Sun Fanghui (Chn, 3.5).

Source: http://www.hindu.com