FIDE Master Akar Ali Salih of Iraq won his 4th round assignment to share the lead with Malek Koniahli of Syria with 3.5 points each at the halfway mark of the Zone 3.1 Zonal Hybrid Chess Championship on Tornelo. The champion qualifies into the FIDE World Cup next month in Sochi, Russia.
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Salih used the Sicilian Defense to turn back Malek Saif of Jordan in 67 moves. Faced with advancing kingside pawns, Saif gave his Queen on the 47th move for a Rook and Bishop. Salih returned a Bishop on the 53rd move to bring his Queen into play. He promoted his pawn to a Knight on the 66th move (see position below before 66… f1=N!) to force resignation a move later.
Koniahli drew in 70 moves against the King’s Indian Defense of IM Sameer Mansour of Jordan. Mansour follows with 3 points together with three others, namely GMs Ehsan Ghaem Maghami and Aryan Gholami of Iran and Sedrani Ammar of the UAE.
Maghami drew with compatriot GM Idani Pouya (photo below). Gholami turned back the English Opening of Mahmoud Dawod of Palestine in only 37 moves. Sedrani used the Queen’s Bishop game to beat Chekh Adm Khedr Aram of Syria in 37 moves of a Rook and pawn endgame.
Here are rd 4 results:
| Zone 3.1 Chess Championships 2021 | |||||||||||
| Pairings/Results | |||||||||||
| Round 4 on 2021/06/04 at 3:00pm | |||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 8 | FM | KONIAHLI Malek. | 2255 | 3 | ½ – ½ | 2½ | IM | MANSOUR Sameer | 2308 | 5 |
| 2 | 11 | CM | SAIF Malek | 2168 | 2½ | 0 – 1 | 2½ | FM | SALIH Akar Ali Salih | 2274 | 7 |
| 3 | 2 | GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | 2547 | 2½ | ½ – ½ | 2 | GM | IDANI Pouya | 2614 | 1 |
| 4 | 20 | DAWOD Mahmoud.W | 1610 | 2 | 0 – 1 | 2 | GM | GHOLAMI Aryan | 2513 | 3 | |
| 5 | 6 | FM | Ammar Sedrani | 2274 | 2 | 1 – 0 | 2 | Chekh Adm Khedr Aram | 2147 | 12 | |
| 6 | 10 | IM | AL HOSANI Omran | 2197 | 2 | 0 – 1 | 1½ | IM | EITI Bashir | 2340 | 4 |
| 7 | 16 | AL MAASHANI Abdullah | 1831 | 1½ | 0 – 1 | 1½ | FM | AHMED Ali Layth Ahmed | 2253 | 9 | |
| 8 | 19 | ALHEJAB Meshal | 1681 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | CM | ISMAEL Namir Mohammed Ismael | 2122 | 13 | |
| 9 | 14 | IM | Sultan Ibrahim | 2076 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | AL-ZAATARI Fares Thamer | 0 | 22 | |
| 10 | 18 | Seder Mohamad | 1722 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | Radwan Mahmoud J | 0 | 23 | ||
| 11 | 17 | MOHAMMED Ahmed Said Al Amri | 1772 | 0 | 1 – 0 | ½ | ALOTHMAN Salem | 1558 | 21 | ||
| 12 | 15 | FM | Salim Mohammed Salim Al Amri | 1926 | 0 | 1 | bye | ||||
See other news of Asian Zone 3.1 Zonal Hybrid Chess Championship
Rd 3: FM Malek Koniahli Grabs Solo Lead in Zone 3.1 Zonal Hybrid Chess Championship
Rd 2: Syrian Upsets Top Seed Iranian GM in Zone 3.1 Zonal Hybrid Chess Championship