Winning start for Niaz, Razib

GM Niaz Murshed and GM Enamul Hossain Razib made winning start in the Asian Continental Individual Chess Championship, a qualifying event for FIDE World Cup to be held in Russia in July, at the Bangladesh Chess Federation hall-room yesterday.

In the game of hybrid system online chess, Niaz beat Al Ibrahim Abdulrahman of Kuwait while Razib beat Tenuunbold Battulga of Mongolia.

IM Fahad Rahman lost to Chinese GM Lu Shanglei, a second-seed player of the competition while IM Abu Sufian Shakil lost to Uzbek GM Vokhidov Shamsiddin.

A total of 82 players including 20 GMs, one WGM, 20 IMs and four WIMs from 15 countries are participating in the tournament, with top seven slated to qualify for the World Cup.