Team Muscat settle for two draws at Asian Cities Chess

MUSCAT: Playing cool and calculative game, Team Muscat recorded two draws — both against Indian cities of Cuttak and Puri — in the Asian Cities Chess Championship in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of eastern Indian state of Odisha on Tuesday.

Team Muscat, who despite losing their first two rounds bounced back with a victory on Sunday and then with a draw on Monday, shared the points in the fifth and six rounds on Tuesday.

In the fifth round, the victory of Candidates Master Salim Issa Ali Shamas (1902) over Cuttak’s An- suman Samal proved vital in their 2-2 draw. Though Amin Al Ansi (1898) lost his game to Shreyash Shuvam Patnaik (1696), Houd Al Houti (1783) and Salim Mohammed Al Amri (2010) drew with Rabindra Kumar Ojha (1795) and Nilsu Pattnayak (1763) to contribute to Muscat Team’s cause.

In the sixth round, Team Muscat took on Puri whose average rating of 1905 was slightly superior to the Omani squad’s 1898. But Muscat managed to hold their opponents to a 2-2 draw thanks to victories of Salim Issa Al Shamas and Mohammed Ahmed Al Amri (1711) over Lochan Kumar Das (1580) and Rajat Kumar Sahoo (1755) respectively. The action on the other two boards saw Amin Al Ansi losing to Rajesh Nayak (2211) and Houd Al Houti beaten by Baivab Mishra (2074).

After six rounds, Muscat are in the eighth place in the 12-team championship.

Rasht of Iran lead the table with five wins followed by Bhubaneswar, who also have five wins.

Penang, Malaysia with four wins are in the third place.