KARACHI, March 5: National Master Haseeb Ahmed secured an excellent victory when he beat off the superb challenge of Imtiaz Ahmed in the Master Riaz Memorial Gulshan Town Chess Championship played at the Water & Sewerage Board Officers’ Club.

Haseeb who represented Pakistan in the Chess Olympiad in Turkey, is ranked amongst the top National Masters in the country, and although he was forced to defend his game under time pressure, a masterly game with a finishing touch in the final game helped him finally down his fighting opponent.

The only lady participant Ghazala, opened her game well against Shaikh Barkat, but could not maintain her early form as her opponent went on to win.

In a three-hour marathon, NM Aziz Farooqi relying heavily on his patience, bundled out Israr, who seemed rather exhausted in the end.

A costly error in the final game cost Shakir Hussain the match against Asad Rampuri (UBL). In the opening round Asad lost half a point. But Asad relying heavily on his experience and in the final game the match was heading for a draw, until Shakir made an unforced error which cost him the match.

In the fastest game played so far in the tournament, Akhtar Hussain swept past Fraz Saleem after only 15 moves.

Results: Raees Ansari bt Jamshed Ahmed, Jahangir bt M. Aslam, Alhaj Mehmood bt Masooduddin, Hasan Tariq bt M. Wasif, M. Rafiq bt M. Yamin, Ashfaq Khan bt Munawar Baig, Yaseen Qureshi bt Ghayoor Ahmed, Aftab Alam bt Kamran Hafeez.