KARACHII - National Master Haseeb Ahmed and Faraz Saleem with six and half points each emerged as joint leaders in the open category of the 28th Sindh chess championship now in its concluding stage  here at the CDGK complex on Wednesday.
Haseeb Ahmed will face NM Aziz Farooqi in deciding last round of the contest.
Favourite of the championship FIDE Master Omer Khan was toppled by an unknown Atif  a non-ranking player from Malir. In the 7th round Atif outplayed Omer Khan FM as time ran out on his clock. With the unexpected defeat Master Omer has been thrown out of the race of the trophy and also from the selection for the National Chess Championship.
 Five contenders including 3-non masters are in the race for the crown.  Faraz Saleem secured upset victory by out-playing National Master Wahid Hussain (Hyd)
In 8th round Haseeb Ahmed drew with Aziz Farooqui.  Faraz Saleem beat Master Wahid Hussain (Hyd); Raees Ansari drew with Imtiaz Ahmed;
Jahangir drew with Atif (Guddu); Master Younus beat Shahid; Akhtar Hussain beat Shaaft (Sukkur); Shakir Beat Muneeb (NED University); Ahsan Memon( Beaconhouse) beat M. Aslam; Ayub Somro (Larkana) beat Naseem Ahmed ( Sukkur); M. Khan Laghari (Mityari) drew with Mujeeb Alam (CAA).
At the end of eight round points table is as under:
Master Haseeb Ahmed and Faraz Saleem (6pts), Master Aziz Farooqui, Master Younus; Imtiaz Ahmed; Akhtar Hussain; Asif Abbasi; Raees Ansari (6pts).
Master Wahid Hussain (Hyd); Atif (Guddu); Alhaj Mehmood; Jahangir Ahmed; Shams-uddin; Rashid Hussain(Hyd) (5pts).
Shahid Hussain; Abdul Waheed; Ayub Soomro (Larkana); Amir Hussain; Hafeez-ur-Rehman (Hyd) (5pts).