International Woman Master Vijayalakshmi.

TEHERAN, Aug 15: International Woman Master Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman clinched the women's title with 7.5 points by defeating teammate Swati Ghate in the final round of Asian Zonal Chess Tournament at Kosar Hotel here today.

The unexpected defeat of IWM Saritha Reddy (7 points) at the hands of another Indian contender, Safira Shanaz (5.5) pushed the overnight leader into second spot along with Woman Grandmaster Repkova Eid Eva (7) from Lebanon.

Saritha, with a better tie break, was declared second and Repkova came third. But the cash award will be equally shared between the two.

The game between Swati (4) and Vijayalakshmi was of Ruy Lopez opening and the middle game was also more or less equal. However, Vijaylakshmi broke Swati's defence with a masterly bishop pair. In the end, Swati was forced to resign enabling Vijayalakshmi to claim the title.

In the Saritha-Safira game, the latter playing with white, broke through Saritha's Queen Pawn opening.

Even though faced with time trouble, Safira played accurately to thwart Saritha's chances of clinching the title, forcing her to resign on the 46th move. Fancied Repkova defeated Al Rufei Eman from Iraq.

Anupama Gokhale (6.5) beat Mohamed Karimi of Iran to bag the fourth spot, ahead of Rani Hamid (Bangladesh - 5.5) and and Safira Shanaz. Shabana Parveen (5) of Bangladesh came seventh with 5 pts, while Swati fared poorly to be 11th among the participants.

In the men's section, International Master Hakki Amad of Syria is the front-runner with 7.5 points, while Iran's Bagheri Amir (Iran) lies in the second spot with seven points.

India's chances of claiming the double suffered a jolt when the main Indian contenders Ponnuswamy Konguvel and national champion Abhijit Kunte, both on six points, lost to Hakki and Badheri respectively in the penultimate round.IM Lanka Ravi, who had a creditable win against GM Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh, is placed third with 6.5 points.

Drawing his match against IM Devki Prasad, IM K Murugan is in fourth place with Konguvel, Kunte, Murshed, Ghorbani Mohsen, Ghaem Maghami (both Iran) with 6 pts. Prasad is fifth with 5.5 pts.

In a title-clash for the men's singles, Bagheri takes on Hakki tomorrow.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.