KARACHI - Current ladies national champion Dr Nida Siddiqui and men’s defending champion Mahmood Lodhi are leading points table in their respective categories in the National Chess Championship.
Nida and Zenobia with three points each are jointly heading the points table in ladies event. Ghazala Shabbir and Bushra Zia both of Pakistan Railways and Sanam are placed second jointly with two points each. As many as 20 ladies are taking part in the seven round women’s national championship.
Mahmood Lodhi seeking straight 13th national title is leading with six points at the end of sixth round in the 11-round championship. He defeated Anwar Qureshi in sixth round. M Ayub, Omer Khan and Hafiz ur Rehman with five points each are placed joint third. Haseeb Ahmed is fourth with four points.
A number of reputed players Tanvir Jilani, Omer Karim, Wasim Akram, Dr Mumtaz, Shahzad Mirza, NM Waqar, NM Asad Rampuri and NM Salman Farooqi have boycotted the championship alleging that the event was being organized by a non representative body.