April 26, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1429

KARACHI, April 25: International Master Mehmood Lodhi continued his winning streak on the second day on Friday by defeating Dr Haroon in round three at the 26th National Chess Championship being held at a local hotel.

Later in the evening, in round four, the 48-year old Lodhi, who seems very sure of bagging the title, exhibited some brilliant moves and mind power while playing against Wasim Akram of Railways, compelling Wasim to concede the match in 38 moves.

Speaking to Dawn, a crestfallen Wasim later said: “I almost had the advantage but unfortunately due to miscalculation, I made an error and had to concede the match.”

Lodhi on the other hand was brimming with confidence. “I have been playing the game since the past forty years and am very sure of success,” he remarked.

In yet another shock defeat in the second round, Imtiaz Ahmed of Sindh beat International Master Shehzad Mirza of PIA.

Imtiaz started with a King-Pawn opening and Shehzad adopted Sicilian defence. However, Imtiaz playing with packed defence overpowered Shehzad after a keen tussle.

Imtiaz in the third round beat Asad Khan to secure his third point.

However, after losing the second round, Shehzad Mirza returned to winning ways by beating Mohammad Yasir.

Others, who carved out their third win on a trot included National Master Aamir Karim, Wasim Akram (both Punjab), National Master Haseeb Ahmed, Riasat Ali, Feroze Alam, Imtiaz Ahmed (Sindh).

Results:

Round three:

Mehmmod Lodhi bt Dr Haroon, Amir Karim bt Gulrez Nazir, Haseeb Ahmed bt Fauzanullah, Wasim Akram bt Nawaz Khan, Riasat Ali bt Abdul Majid, Feroze Alam bt Akhter Hussain, Asad Khan bt Imtiaz Ahmed, Asif-ur-Rehman bt M Shafiq Sr, Noman Mustafa drew Ayub, M Waqar bt Ejaz Butt, Asad Rampuri drew Waqar Madni, Wahid Hussain bt Ali Madad, Shahzad Mirza bt M Yasir, Shahzad Alam bt Masood Hussain, Abdul Qadir bt Rahat Ali, M Mehmood bt Al Haj Mehmood, M Umar Farooq bt Asrar Ahmed Khalil-ur-Rehman drew Aziz Faruqui, Babar Butt bt Shahid Iqbal, Fahim Anwer bt M Yunus, Faraz Salim bt Waqar Ahmed, Hafeez Bajwa bt Nawaz Zahari, Hafeezur-Rehman bt Zafar Sultan, Imtial-ul-Haq bt Zeeshan Ahmed, Raees Ansari bt Irfan Ahmed, Shahzad Ahmed bt Jamil Mughal, Shakil Hussain bt M Rashid, M Shafiq bt Wahab Ahmad, M Shahzad bt Zenobia Wasif, Attaullah bt Prince Jamil, Wasim Gul bt Asif Abbasi, Hasan Tariq bt M Zahid, Jehangir Ahmed bt Qamar Zaman, Nadir Aziz bt Khalid Ashraf, Noor Agha bt M Jawed, Aftab Alam bt Syed Tariq, Adeel Ahmad bt Assadullah, Yousuf Baloch bt Azeem Ahmad, M rehan bt Dr Abdul Latif, Irfan Akbar bt Surang Khan, Kamran Ayub bt Wajihuddin, M Ishaq Awan bt M Farhan and Zain Raza received bye.

Round four:

Mehmood Lodhi bt Wasim Akram in 38 moves.

Other games were in progress till filing of this report.