Grandmaster Wang Hao of China has beaten Georgian GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili in the 7th round of the 4th Al Ain Chess Championship to stretch his lead to a full point. He remains on the top spot of the competition being held at the Hili Reyhaan Rotana Hotel in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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The second seed Wang essayed the English opening and sacrificed a Knight on the 21st move to open lines for attack. Mchedlishvili was forced to give the exchange and in the ensuing minor piece endgame resigned on the 44th move facing loss of material. The former Chinese champion leads alone with 6.5 points.

Wang is a former Chinese national champion. His first major tournament win was in the 7th Dubai Open in April 2005. He was the 2007 GACC Tournament winner. He finished second place at the 2007 Asian Individual Championship.

In the other matches, third round leader GM Babu Lalith of India was beaten by his compatriot Abhijeet Gupta, the 2008 World Junior Champion and 2013 Al Ain Chess Classic winner.

Gupta's victory enabled him to climb to second slot with 5.5 points together with tournament's top seed Yuriy Kryvoruchko of Ukraine, former world championship finalist Alexei Shirov of Latvia and Arman Pashikian of Armenia.

Kryvoruchko crushed the Sicilian defense of GM Zeng Chongseng of China to win in 59 moves. Pashikian beat French GM Fabien Libiszewski in 41 moves. Alexei Shirov of Latvia was held to a draw by GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia in a marathon 66 moves of a Reti opening.

Nine players are currently tied with 5 points each and 21 players follow at 4.5 points each in the race for $57,000 in cash prizes for the Masters event. A record 56 GMs and 5WGMs are among the 127-man field from 33 different countries around the world have participated in the tournament.

TagsChess 2015, Chess News, Wang Hao, United Arab Emirates