Asian Chess R4 - Irene Sukandar in sole lead in women's section; five-way tie in open section

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

WGM Irene Sukandar has gone into sole lead while there is a five-way tie in the open section after four rounds at the Asian Continental Chess Tournament being held in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. You can access the official website  the Asian Chess Federation site for live games and other info. Tied Yu and Liu are GMs Ding Liren of China, Oliver Barbosa of Philippines and Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia.

Ding outplayed GM S. Sethuraman of India in an endgame of opposite colored Bishops that lasted 79 moves.

Six players are in the second spot with 3 points each - IM Gao Rui of China and GMs John Paul Gomez of the Philippines, Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Negi Parimarjan of India, Zhou Jianchao of China and Salem A. R. Saleh of the United Arab Emirates.

In the 5th round, the two Chinese Liu and Ding are paired, Barbosa plays Yu Yangyi while Megaranto faces GM Negi Parimarjan.

In the Women's section, Batchimeg tried to draw by perpetual check but Sukandar forced an exchange of Queens to transpose into a won endgame in 80 moves. Nine women follow in second spot - with 3 points each namely top seed Zhao Xue and compatriots Wang Jue and Dig Yixin of China, WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An and Hoang Thi Bao Tram of Vietnam, Batchimeg and IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolila, and Tania Sachdev and Mohota Nisha of India. Sukandar plays the top seed Zhao Xue in the 5th round of the chess event. 

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