Chess team suffers defeat in absence of girl players

MACAU—Pakistan chess team with disadvantage of not having girl players closed the fourth round of the classical team competition with one victory and three defeats and is out of contention for semi final in the Macau indoor games here on Monday at Macau international shooting range.
According to the format of the event ,each team must have two men and two female players but Pakistani side is with only four men players, Mahmood Ahmed Lodhi, Amir Karim, Tanvir Mohyuddin Gillani and Muhammad Younis to face the mighty opponents and grand masters. There is no logic to bring four men players and not including girls knowing the seriousness of the competition.
Pak lost the opening match to Kazakhstan, then beat Chinese Taipei , lost to Singapore and then to Japan. Their two matches of the 6 round contest are yet to be played and Pakistan at the end of the fourth round has no chance to move ahead.
Pakistan number two Lodhi has two and a half points from four matches while Aamir Pak number two having a poor show has just one point. Lodhi’s top most performance was seen against Singapore when he managed to draw his match against Wong Meng Kong at (.5-.5 ) after a five hour battle which is the so far longest match of the championship. With no chance in the classical team event, Lodhi based on his performance stands a chance to qualify for the semi finals of the singles event provided he wins the remaining two matches and he is in must win position to move forward in the singles.
Pakistan team amid presence of grand masters drawn in various teams Kazakhstan and China failed to make any impression and was earlier eliminated in Rapid Chess event.
In the classical competition Pakistani chess masters struggled to match the mental superiority of Kazakhstan’s grand masters comprising (men) Murtas Kazhgaleyev, Anuar Ismagam ,who gave them a chess lesson with a firm 4-0 win. Kazak girls Maryia Sergeyeva and Gulmira Dauletova each won one point without going into the play by earning bye in their respective matches.
But it is a surprise that the chess authorities in Pakistan did not field their female players knowing the fact and the format of the matches which involves two male and two female players. The team management here in Macau also failed to give a valid justification why the women players were not included when it was mandatory to have them in the competition.
Pak team was back into the confidence with their 2.1 win over Chinese Taipei in the coming match . Lodhi and Aamir proved too good for their men rivals Yueh Wei Po and Chen I Chen. The Chinese Taipei has the similar disadvantage of Pakistan for not having their girls pair. Lodhi and Aamir got one point each compared to one won by Chen.
In their third round match the Pakistani pair facing Singapore in the only men matches failed to overcome them. The duo of Wong Meng Kong and Wu Shaobin beat them one and a half point to half, Wu earned one point half by Wong and Lodhi supported Pakistan with his half point as Aamir remained colourless in this tie.
Japanese side comprising (men) Kojima Shinya, Nanjo Ryosuke and (women) Mirai Ishizuka and Misaki Shibata beat Pakistan 3-1 .Again Lodhi helped the team by winning one point and Aamir proved a failure. In the coming round Pakistan may face Vietnam, Iran or Maldives or Afghanistan as the matches were in progress.—Agencies