International Master Minhazuddin Ahmed Sagar of Bangladesh Ansar moved to the top of the Berger Paints 39th National ‘A’ Chess Championship’s point table after beating Mohammed Hafizul Islam Chapal in the 5th round at the BOA media centre yesterday.
Sagar now has 4.5 points. Fide Master Mehdi Hasan Parag of Access Group defeated Grandmaster Enamul Hossain Razib in the same round. Parag played with the white pieces and defeated Razib’s Old Indian Defence in 40 moves. In the big match of the day, GM’s Ziaur Rahman and Abdullah Al Rakib drew their game and both slipped to second place with four points. Grandmaster Niaz Murshed of Dhaka Mohammedan was 3rd with 3.5 points after beating Shafiq Ahmed.
In other games, FM Mohammad Javed beat IM Abu Sufian Shakil, FM Sk Nasir Ahmed beat Md Jamal Uddin and FM Kh Aminul Islam beat FM Debaraj Chatterjee.
Rakib will face Zia today in the 6th round at the same venue.
