KARACHI, Aug 9: National Master (NM) Muhammad Waqar emerged as the sole leader with four points after fourth round in the 26th Friendship House Open Chess Championship on Friday evening.

Closely on his heels is Shahab Ahmed with 3 and 1/2 points.

Earlier in the the third round, promising Akmal Hussain outmanoeuvred out of form International Master Shahzad Mirza.

In the same round NM Aziz Farooqi was also defeated by young and upcoming Muhammad Younus and in the next round Shahab Ahmed defeated another NM Asad Rampuri.

In other important matches of Group-A, Muhammad Waqar beat Jahangir Ahmed, Rahat Ali beat Asrar Hassain, Imtiaz Ahmed beat Prof. Zaidi, Sabir Khan beat Imtiaz ul- Haque, Akhtar Hussain beat Faraz Salim.

Points position after round four.

Group-A. M. Waqar-4.0 points, Shahab Ahmed-3.5. Rahat Ali, Imtiaz Ahmed, Akmal Hussain, Asad Rampuri, Jahangir Ahmed, Akhtar Hussain, Junaid Hameed, Mahmood-ul-Islam and Asif Abbasi-3 each.

Group-B Nasir Ahmed-4 point, B.A. Khan Ilyas Khatri, Abdul Waheed,Qamar Baig and Prince Jamil-3 points each.—APP