Abu Dhabi: Defending champion China blitzed Iran 3.5-0.5 to grab a solo lead while India beat host UAE 3:1 to trail in close second after four rounds of the Asian Nations Cup Chess Team Championship, organised by the UAE Chess Federation at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan hotel.

Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi outplayed Iranian champion GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in 41 moves of a Catalan Opening.

China’s Wang Yue used the English opening to beat Parham Maghsoodloo in 43 moves. To seal the win, Zhou Jianchao crushed the Gruenfeld defense of Masoud Mosadeghpour in 66 moves. Iranian Alireza Firouzja held Wei Yi to a draw to prevent a shutout.

China have 8 match points followed by India alone in second with 7 match points. A team earns two match points for a win and one match point for a draw. Game points over four boards shall break the tie.

Indian GMs S.P. Sethuraman, Santosh Gujarathi Vidit and Deep Sengupta beat Noaman Omar, Ishaq Saeed and Mayed Al Rashedi, respectively to give India 3 points. Asian champion Saleh A.R. Salem used the French Defence to counter and beat India’s GM B. Adhiban in 62 moves.

Iran fell to a share of third slot with Mongolia, Bangladesh and Iraq at 6 match points each.

With 5 match points each are Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Uzbekistan. UAE-1, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Sri Lanka, UAE-2 and Lebanon have 4 match points each. Oman, Palestine, Afghanistan and Kuwait have 2 match points. Trailing are UAE-3 and Tajikistan with 1 match point each and scoreless Nepal are in the cellar.

In the women’s division, Vietnam blanked UAE-1 by 4:0 to maintain their solo lead with 8 match points followed closely by the Chinese and Indian women with 7 match points each.

India shut out Uzbekistan 4:0 on wins by GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Tania Sachdev, IM Padmini Rout and WGM Soumya Swaminathan. China crushed Mongolia 3.5-0.5 on wins by Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue and Guo Qi. Mongolia’s Tuvshintugs Batchimeg held Lei Tingjie to a draw to prevent a shut-out.

In other matches, Kazakhstan edged Iran 2.5-1.5 while Sri Lanka split the points with UAE-2.

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan women have 6 match points each, Mongolia and Iran have 2 match points each. Sri Lanka and UAE-2 have 1 match point each followed by scoreless UAE-1.