The Iran men’s team beat the Philippines and Singapore, and drew with erstwhile co-leader Kazakhstan in Friday’s three rounds to grab solo lead with 11 match points after 6 rounds of the Asian Online Nations Cup Chess Team Championship on Friday in Chess.com.
Australia and Kazakhstan are in second slot with 10 match points each followed by India and Kyrgyzstan with 9 match points each. Tied with 8 match points each are Indonesia, Mongolia, Philippines, Japan, Nepal and Singapore. The top eight teams from the 9-round Swiss System preliminaries qualify into the knockout stage of Quarterfinal duels.
The all GM team of Iran edged the Philippines 2.5:1.5 in round 4 on victories by Parham Maghsoodloo over Mark Paragua and by Aryan Gholami over GM John Paul Gomez. IM Paulo Bersamina countered for the Philippines with a win over GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami while GM Rogelio Barcenilla held GM Amin Tabatabaei to a draw.
The Iranians followed up with a 2:2 draw against Kazakhstan in the 5th round. Tabatabaei beat FM Rustam Khusnutdinov to score for Iran but GM Anuar Ismagambetov countered for Kazakhstan by beating GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami. The other two games were drawn between Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and Rinat Jumabaev of Kazakhstan on board 1 and between Aryan Gholami of Iran and IM Denis Makhnev on board 4.
In round 6, Iran crushed Singapore 3.5-0.5 on wins by Maghsoodloo, Tabatabei and Gholami. Li Yang Hsu saved Singapore from a shutout by holding GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami to a draw.
The Australian team of (in photo above, from left) GMs Anton Smirnov, Temur Kuybokarov, Max Illingworth and Moulthun Ly and IM James Morris came on strong in the 4th round, smashing Bangladesh 3.5-0.5. GM Ziaur Rahman saved Bangladesh from a shutout by holding GM Max Illingworth to a draw.
In round 5, Australia could only edge a tough Sri Lanka team 2.5-1.5 as L.M.S. De Silva beat IM James Morris on board 4.
Then in round 6, Australia showed that they are a team to contend with as they beat Philippines 3:1 on wins by Kuybokarov, Illingworth and Ly. GM Mark Paragua’s attacking style scored for the Philippines against GM Anton Smirnov. Replay the sacrificial attack here.
Kazakhstan faced strong opposition in the second day of hostilities. The Kazakhs edged Mongolia 2.5-1.5, then drew 2:2 with solo leader Iran and 2:2 with top seed India.
Tajikistan (in above screenshot with Thailand team) trails with 7 match points together with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Iraq. Thailand follows with 6 match points. Visit chess-results.com for standings and round by round results. Games in the Open division resume 10am (UAE time) Sunday 18 October.
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