Junaid, Srivatsan post key wins

Muscat: As the Asian Amateur Chess Championship gets closer to the final stage, the competitions get much tougher among the participants at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat.

The men's section is led by top three ranked players -- Kyrgyzstan's Asan Kushof, Lebanon's Mahmoud Maasrani and Pakistan's Suhail Junaid.

No 3 Suhail emerged with a crucial win over Palestine’s Othman Jardat 1-0 and claimed two points while India's Srivatsan Karthikeyan edged his rival Owlad Ehsan of Iran 1-0 (two points). Oman’s Salim al Amri suffered a 1-0 loss against Iranian Fooladi Behrooz (two points).

In other fixtures, Oman’s players registered mixed results in the second round of the championship as Salim al Amri registered a win over his team-mate Imad al Balushi while Mahad al Amri won against Salim Issa. Musallam al Amri managed to defeat Syrian player Ameer Rafaa while Ameen al Ansi beat Said al Mamari. Oman’s Anas al Darwashi recorded a win over India's Askat Danag.

The women’s section is led by top seed Emirati Rawda al Sarkal, Palestine's Iman Sawan and Salma al Khelaifi from Qatar. Iman Sawan suffered a loss against Sri Lanka's Abeysinghe H M H Janadani 1-0 (two points). Rawda al Sarkal beat Hanan Khalil from Palestine 1-0 (two points) while India's Binoj Shybi stunned Moza al Mansouri from UAE 1-0 ((two points). The second round of the tournament was attended by Varun Pankaj, Kairavi Pankaj Khimji and in presence of OCC officials.

Special occasion

Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh, Arbiters committee head from Iran, said that the tournament is a very special occasion for the amateur players to compete.

“Many players who are attending this event are not ranked as professional players. However, some of them are making efforts to join international amateur events regularly. For Asia, we have been organising the amateur events for many years. The players in this event are rated under 2000. These events were impacted with the Covid pandemic for the past two years. Last year, Oman represented by Oman Chess Committee (OCC) had organised the event online and this year over the board as everybody joined the tournament physically and are enjoying the event,” he added.

Pahlevanzadeh explained that Asian Amateur Chess Championship has two sections including open and women categories. “In the Open section, ladies can join in the event while in the women's section, it is dedicated for them only. There are 146 players from 20 countries in the Open section and this is a record while in the women's section, there are 51 players from 13 countries. Thanks to OCC for providing all the facilities as everybody is enjoying the hospitality and the venue is covered with good lighting. It is a very special occasion and Muscat delivered a perfect edition of the tournament,” he concluded.