LAHORE, May 25: Top ranked and defending champion, International Master Mahmood Ahmad Lodhi and second seed International Master Shahzad Mirza were both upstaged by their rivals in the fourth round of the 24th National chess championship on Tuesday.

Lodhi trying to win the title for the 10th consecutive time, was upstaged by national Master Mohammad Waqar (Sindh) when their tie ended in draw after a four- hour tussle at the Board No 1. The competition ended after 40 moves from which Lodhi could only earn half point to make the aggregate of 3 1/2.

Lodhi had in front Haseeb Ahmed, Tanvir Gillani, Aamir Karim and Amjad Hafeez Bajwa, who all were tied at the top position with four points each. Both Lodhi and Waqar remained with five pawns each to defend their King after losing the last Bishop. But their pawns were blocked and there was no way to move as the tie ended in a draw.

Shahzad lost to National Master Haseeb Ahmed to register a major upset in a game which also lasted for four hours and ended after 42 moves. Prominent National Master Aamir Karim, also the Punjab champion and Amjad Hafeez Bajwa (Punjab) won their rounds easily.

Aamir defeated National Master Rahat Ali(Sindh) after 19 moves. Amjad beat former Punjab champion Haji Afzal.

Results: (Names with points) Haseeb Ahmad (4) bt Shahzad Miraza (3); Tanveer Gillani (4) bt Muhammad Younas (3);Amir Karim (4) bt Rahat Ali (3); Amjad Hafeez Bajwa(4) bt Haji Afzal (2 1/2); Mahmood Lodhi (3 1/2)drawto Muhammad Waqar(3 1/2); Asadullah Khan (3 1/2)bt Waqar Ahmad Madni(21/2); Muhammad Sabir (3 1/2) bt Muhammad Sadiq(2 1/2). Other fourth round winners: Mehmood Khan, Nazir Multani, Shahzad Alam, Anwar Qureshi, Raees Ahmad Ansari, Raja Nadeem Ameer, Jahangir Ahmad, Zohaib Gilani, Shahbaz Malik, Imtiaz Ahmad, Riaz Khan, Fahim Anwar Malghani, Wahid Hussain, Hassan Tariq, Nadeem Aziz, AliHaider Chatha, Gulriaz nazir, Amir Zahoor Butt, Asifur Rehman, Faraz Saleem, Salahuddin, Akmal Hussain, Shahkir Hussain, Muhammad Yousaf Balo, Muhammad Zahid, Imran Naeem Khilji, Fayyaz Abro, Asfand Zafar, Fauzanullah, Muhammad Siddique, Irfan Ahmed, Muhammad iqbal, Tanveer Khan, Muhammad Umar, Dr Wasim Azhar, Shariq Shueb, Usman Bhatti.