Wang wins, widens lead at Al Ain chess

GM Abhijeet Gupta (left) of India beat compatriot Babu Lalith to climb to second slot with 5.5 points.

 In-form Chinese grandmaster (GM) Wang Hao beat GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia in the seventh round to widen his lead to a full point in the homestretch of the fourth Al Ain Chess Classic at the Hili Reyhaan Rotana Hotel in Al Ain, UAE.
Wang essayed the English opening and sacrificed a Knight on the 21st move to open lines for attack. Mchedlishvili was forced to give the exchange and in the ensuing minor piece endgame resigned on the 44th move facing loss of material. The former Chinese champion leads alone with 6.5 points.
GM Abhijeet Gupta of India beat compatriot Babu Lalith to climb to second slot with 5.5 points together with top seed Yuriy Kryvoruchko of Ukraine, former world championship finalist Alexei Shirov of Latvia and Arman Pashikian of Armenia.
Gupta crushed the Nimzoindian defence of Lalith in 42 moves. Gupta, 26, World Junior champion in 2008 and winner of the Al Ain Classic in 2013, sacrificed a Knight on the 19th move and penetrated with his Queen to force resignation on the 42nd move.
Kryvoruchko smashed the Sicilian defence of GM Zeng Chongseng of Chiina. The Chinese aggressively gave a Rook for Knight on the 18th move but Kryvoruchko turned him back to win in 59 moves.
Pashikian countered the kingside pawn storm of French GM Fabien Libiszewski with a break in the center of a Ruy Lopez game to win in 41 moves.
Second running Alexei Shirov of Latvia was held to a draw by GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia in a marathon 66 moves of a Reti opening.
Nine players follow with 5 points each, namely Alexander Areshchenko, Yuriy Kuzubov and Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko of Ukraine, Sergey Volkov, Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Alexander Motylev of Russia, Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, Ahmed Adly of Egypt and Walter Arencibia of Cuba.
Lalith, Mchedlishvili, Zeng and Libisziewski follow in a group of 21 players tied at 4.5 points each. A record 56 GMs and 5 WGMs are among the 127-man field from 33 countries. At stake is a total of $57,000 in cash prizes.
In the Al Ain Amateur tournament for players rated below 2000 with 72 players from 15 countries competing for $7,000 in cash prizes, Anisweud Sasikumar, 15, of India leads the field alone with 6.5 points out of 7 rounds followed by Ahmad Saeed Bondok of Egypt with 6 points. WIM Nibal Algildah of Syria, Saji Adarsh of India and Yaroslav Toporov of Kazakhstan trail with 5.5 points each.