Dubai, Apr 11: Grandmaster and highest rated Indian in the fray, Abhijeet Gupta shot into sole lead, defeating Hatim Al-Hadarani of Yemen in the fourth round of 16th Dubai International Open chess tournament here today.
The victory with black pieces turned out to be fourth in a row for Gupta and his clean slate helped him annex the sole lead on four points. It was a clean effort by the Indian as Hatim Al-Hadarani fell prey to some finely crafted manoeuvres in the endgame.
As many as six players – Axel Bachmann of Paraguay, Eduardo Itturizaga of Venezuela, Zaven Andriasian of Armenia, Constantin Lupulescu of Romania, Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan and Romain Edouard of France remain ont he heels of the leader with 3.5 points apiece. With five rounds still to come in the 50000 USD prize money tournament, another 32 players are in close pursuit with three points each.
However, the day belonged to Gupta as he made the most of opportunities against Hatim Al-Hadarani who played an irregular queen pawn game. PLaying black, Gupta obtained a complicated middle game and then pounced ona killer stroke that netted him a pawn without any counter play. As the game progressed, Al-Hadarani fell under time pressure and the ensuing rook and pawns endgame was no respite. (PTI)
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