Liplin wins blitz gold; Mikail enjoys sole lead in standard

Panaji: FM Liplin Llia (Russia) won gold at the 24th World IPCA Blitz Chess Championship in Dona Paula, on Friday.
IM Eugenio Campos (Angola) won silver scoring seven points while FM Soltanov Serik (Kazakhstan) also scored seven points and was awarded the bronze.
89 players from 16 countries took part in the blitz competition.
Liplin remained undefeated scoring eight points out of nine, winning seven and drawing the other two. He defeated FM Sargissyan Sargis (Armenia) and FM Soltanov Serik (Kazakhstan), while drawing with IM Eugenio Campos of Angola, amongst others.
In the standard section, the battle for the top spot is heating up with Dzenisenia Mikail (Russia) leading with five points, winning all his games till now.
Playing on the first board with white pieces, he defeated Lipilin in a Sicilian opening manoeuvre in only 22 moves to take the sole lead.
IM Molenda Marcin (Poland), the leader after four rounds, follows close behind in second place with 4.5 pts. Liplin is in third place with four points.
Others on four points include Anfinogenov Artem (Russia), FM Sargissyan Sargis (Armenia), Glazar Domagoj (Croatia), Ayapov Alimzhan (Kazakhstan), Khishigbayar Mijgee (Mongolia), FM Venkata Krishna Karthik K (India), AIM Sundui Sonom (Mongolia) and Rakhtibekov Tilegen (Kazakhstan).
The 24th World IPCA Chess Championship continues till next week, with 97 participants from 17 countries competing in the championship being staged in Asia for the first time.