Reply #16: Updates (Firday)

[Jack Rabbit]

Game 5 drawn; Vishy Leads Title Match, 3-2



Reigning world champion Vishy Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov played to a draw today in the fifth game of their title match in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

The champion leads the scheduled 12-round match with 3 points to Topalov's 2.

The sixth game takes place tomorrow with live coverage at the official website beginning at 3 pm Eastern European Summer Time (5 am PDT).

Ni Hua, Atousa Win Asian Continental Championships



Chinese grandmaster Ni Hua won the general group of the Asian Continental Championships yesterday in Subic Bay, the Philippines, with 7 points out of a possible 9 while WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran won the women's group with the same score.

Mr. Ni took a share of the lead in round 7 when he defeated 16-year-old Filipino GM Wesley So, who had held the lead from the early going. Ni then defeated his compatriot Li Chao in the eighth round to take sole possession of first place. Young Mr. So, former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta of India, Chinese GM Zhou Jianchao and top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam tied for second at 6½ points each.

Ms. Pourkashiyan came from behind to overtake Chinese international master Wang Yu in the late rounds after losing to Ms. Wang in the second round. Ms. Pourkashiyan's key victories were her sixth round win over WFM Ding Yixin of China, who finished tied for second with Ms. Wang with 6½ points, and a stunning tactical tour-de-force from the Black side of the board against tournament top seed Ju Wenjun in just 22 moves in round 7.


Tanya Kosintseva Leads Women's GP in Nalchik after Five



Russian grandmaster Tatiana Kosintseva leads the field in the third leg of the 2009-10 FIDE Women's Grand Prix by a widening margin with 4½ points from the first five rounds in Nalchik, the capital of the Russian Republic of Kabardino-Balkar.

Four players are currently tied for second with 3 points each, two of whom Tatiana Anatolyevna has alredy defeated. They are 16-year-old Chinese GM Hou Yifan (Tatiana Anatolyevna's first round victim), Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia (who fell to Tatiana Anatolyevna earlier today), Russian WGM Baira Kovanova and the reigning European women's champion, Pia Cramling of Sweden.