KARACHI: Pakistan’s Inter­national Master (IM) Mahmood Lodhi reached the pinnacle of his career when he achieved back to back victories in the third Al-Ain Open Chess Championship against Ukrainian Grand Masters.

A record 14-time national champion Lodhi defeated Super Grand Master Myroshauko Evgenj in the eighth round to record his fourth win in the competition carrying prize money of $34,000.

It was a grand win for Lodhi who is 300 points behind in FIDE chess rating against Evgenj’s rating of 2,618 points.

The win lifted Lodhi to 10th spot in the presence of over 20 GMs and over 30 IMs in the 70 table event.

“This is the greatest achievement by any chess player from Pakistan in an international event,” director of Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP) Tariq Rasheed Khan commented.

MSAP is considering honouring Lodhi for his performance.

He said by beating two GMs in a major FIDE event, Lodhi have achieved a Grand Masters Norm.

Earlier, in the seventh round, Lodhi toppled GM Barychpolets Andrey also from Ukraine having the rating of 2,599.

In the sixth round, Lodhi played a dawn against another Super GM Lordoachhescu Viorel from MDA with a rating of 2,611.

Lodhi now got five and half points in the nine-round event and a win in the final round against another GM lift him to new heights in his long chess career.—APP

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014