Five Bangladeshi players shared the top spot with five others in the open and women鈥檚 sections of the Asian Zone 3.2 Chess Championship at the end of the second round now being held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
All the joint top place holders in both the open and women鈥檚 sections earned a maximum of two points each from the two rounds of the championship, which is also the qualifying round of the Men鈥檚 and Women鈥檚 World Cup Chess.
In the second round of the open section, four Bangladeshi players鈥擨nternational Master Manon Reja Neer, IM Fahad Rahman, FIDE Master Tahsin Tajwar Zia, and FM Syed Mahfuzur Rahman鈥攕hared the top spot after winning against their Sri Lankan counterparts.
Neer beat Wickramasinghe VWA Vinuda Vidm, Fahad beat Sivathanujan, Tahsin Zia beat Candidate Master Amarasinghe AACB, and Mahfuzur defeated Samaranayake Pamok Methdinu to share the lead with two Sri Lankans and one Maldivian.
The other three Bangladeshi campaigners in the open section, FM Sakline Mostafa Sajid, beat Janukshan B, Amit Bikram Roy drew against Sathsindu WM Minura, and Tanvir Alam defeated Sanviru GHA Dulnith of Sri Lanka.
In the second round of the women鈥檚 section, Bangladeshi Woman International Master Rani Hamid beat Yeshey Lhaden of Bhutan to share the lead with three other Sri Lankan players.
Among other women鈥檚 section players, WFM Wadifa Ahmed beat Sri Lanka鈥檚 Sutharsan Mithura, Ashiya Sultana defeated WCM Zenobia Wasif of Pakistan, and WFM Noshin Anjum dew against WCM Pallie Ehsha Mishela of Sri Lanka.