NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 17--An Iranian grandmaster shone and booked a place among leaders on the ninth day of the International Open Chess Tournament at Alekhine Chess Club in Gorky Sadan, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, Tuesday, IRNA said.
According to a press release of the club, a copy of which was received by IRNA on Wedneday, Iranian Grandmaster Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (7) bt Barua, Dibyendu (Ind) (6) and another Iranian player, Shayesteh Ghader Pour (3) drew with Satyajit Kundu (Ind) (3) in the tenth round Tuesday.
In this tournament, 11 countries including 48 players, 15 grandmasters and one woman grandmaster are participating.
The tournament, with 11 rounds, ended on Wednesday. After Tuesday's round, five players--Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Abhijit Kunte, Aleksej Alexandrov, Ni Hua and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami--jointly share the lead with 7 points apiece.
Abhijit Kunte slipped at the penultimate hurdle as he lost to Surya Sekhar Ganguly. The win helped Ganguly join Kunte and three others on top with seven points.
With draws in the second and third boards, Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus and Ni Hua of China took their scores to seven, while Maghami, who beat Dibyendu Barua on the fourth board, also booked a place among the leaders.
Aleksandrov drew against the Tejas Bakre in a long game which arose from the Nimzo Indian defense while Ukrainian Oleg Romanishin drew in 24 moves against Hua in a Slav defense.
Barua went down after a blunder from a comfortable position in a French defense. The final round pairings has Kunte and Ganguly with black pieces against Vietnam's Dao Thien Hai and Hua, respectively, while Maghami takes on Aleksandrov.
A win will help Kunte to the title as he has the best progressive score among all.
There was some cheer on the Indian front as Saptarshi Roy earned his first international master norm after beating R.R. Laxman in a sharp game which arose from the Sicilian defense.

Lleyton Hewitt of Australia returns to Carlos Moya of Spain during the round robin stage of the Tennis Masters Cup, Tuesday. (AFP Photo)

HOUSTON, USA,
Nov. 17--A fired-up Lleyton Hewitt underlined his determination to end the season with a third Masters Cup title as he rallied past Spain's Carlos Moya 6-7 6-26-4 to complete their rain-delayed opening match on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Returning to the Westside Tennis Club under gloomy skies and just two points from taking the opening set, Hewitt's play was as dreary as the Texas weather, allowing Moya to claw back from 5-4 0-30 down to claim the set in a tiebreak 7-5.
But the Adelaide fighter, Masters Cup champion in 2001 and 2002, was quickly back to his fist-pumping best in the second set as he twice broke the Spaniard on the way to a 4-0 lead.
Hewitt, who enjoyed a superb hard-court campaign with back-to-back titles in Washington and Long Island and a place in the US Open final, met unexpectedly tough resistance in the third set.
Nursing a shoulder injury that prevented him
competing on the European indoor circuit, the Spaniard refused to be run off the court by the energetic Australian.
"He didn't look like a bloke that hasn't played for a few weeks," said Hewitt. "He's a hell of a player, he really is."
A relentless Hewitt finally make the breakthrough in the seventh game, however, with two fist-clenching winners to secure the break and a 4-3 lead.
Moya continued to fight but finished the match without earning a break point on Hewitt's serve.
The win left Hewitt tied atop the Red Group standings with world number one Roger Federer of Switzerland, who opened with a 6-1 7-6 win over Argentina's Gaston Gaudio.

Ireland's John O'Shea (r) tussles with Croatia's Darijo Srna during their international friendly soccer match at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Tuesday. (Reuters Photo)

DUBLIN, Ireland,
Nov. 17--Tottenham striker Robbie Keane extended his Irish goalscoring record with his 24th strike for his country as Ireland beat Croatia 1-0 in a friendly international on Tuesday, Reuters said.
The hosts needed goalline clearances from Liam Miller and Richard Dunne after the break to preserve the lead but overall Ireland deserved their slender win at a windswept Lansdowne Road.
"It's always nice to score goals, and it's nice to score the winner," said Keane. "But the result is what's important, even though I didn't think we played particularly well."
Ireland manager Brian Kerr said he was pleased with his side's performance, and was generous in his praise for his leading striker.
"Robbie scored the goal, his running and movement in the first half were excellent, he found the spaces," he said. "You can see how important he is to us."
Croatia made the brighter start and with five minutes gone a mis-hit clearance by Richard Dunne led to Niko Kranjcar firing wide.
Chelsea winger Damien Duff, at the center of most of Ireland's best moves, carved out a chance in the 21st minute, exchanging passes with Keane from a short corner before running to the edge of the penalty area and shooting just wide.
Keane should have scored minutes later after being put through in a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his lofted shot lacked power and was parried over the bar by Tomislav Butina.
But from the resulting corner on the right, again taken short, Duff wriggled past two defenders before firing in a low cross, and this time Keane made no mistake from close range.
Striker Bosko Balaban, a half-time replacement for Juventus defender Igor Tudor, was denied an equalizer just after the re-start when Miller headed his effort off the line.
With just over an hour gone Keane missed a good chance after being put through by Steve Finnan, and five minutes later Duff hit a post from the Liverpool player's cross.

BRISBANE, Australia, Nov. 17--Australia are a changed team from the one held to a 0-0 series draw against New Zealand in the last series here in 2001 and would be more adaptable to Kiwi tactics in Thursday's cricket Test, batsman Damien Martyn said Wednesday, AFP said.
The stylish right-hander was man-of-the-series in Australia's first series win in India for 35 years last month and ready to continue on his glowing form against Stephen Fleming's Kiwis in the first of two Test matches at the Gabba.
It is a far cry from the desultory form the 33-year-old was in when Fleming engineered a masterful tactical display to blunt the Aussies in their three Test series here three years ago.
Martyn epitomized an Australian team struggling to come to grips with the Kiwis' superior planning and tactics.
He accumulated just 90 runs at 23.5 in the Tests as Fleming stacked fielders square of the wicket on the off-side and plugged Martyn's prime scoring area.
Fleming has hinted Martyn would be one Australian player keen to exorcise any demons that remained from the Black Caps' last visit here.
But after amassing 444 runs at 55.5 in India, Martyn appears to have the batting technique and patience to overcome any Kiwi game plan series.
"They can use it as much as they want in Test match cricket it doesn't bother me," Martyn said Wednesday.
Martyn objects to any thought he was the main victim of the Black Caps' plans three years ago.
"I wasn't the only one (who was targeted with) tactics," he said. "I made 60 against them in a Test match (in Perth).
"I haven't thought about that and I don't care what they do really.
It doesn't matter as a group, we'll go out and play our game.
"I think it was a shock to everybody that series that they came out with such good game plans and we didn't take time to change or think about changing. We were so stuck in playing our way.
"But I think we showed in India that we've changed our game plans now for conditions or teams."

US Steve Nash (r) of the Phoenix Suns dribbles past compatriot Calvin Booth of the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, USA. (AFP Photo)

DALLAS, USA,
Nov. 17--Steve Nash reminded the Dallas Mavericks how impressive a National Basketball Association player he can be, scoring 17 points and adding 18 assists to lead Phoenix in a 107-101 triumph here Tuesday, AFP reported.
Amare Stoudemire scored 15 of his season-high 34 points in the fourth quarter to brighten the Suns, but the night belonged Canadian guard Nash.
Making his first appearance here since signing as a free agent with Phoenix in the offseason, Nash received a huge ovation from the crowd he had thrilled since 1999.
"It was unbelievable," Nash said. "All the people wearing my jersey and holding signs. I really appreciated the support."
He responded by breaking their hearts, posting an assist total one shy of his career high. His five points and 11 assists in the first half sparked the Suns to a 54-43 edge at the break.
Stoudemire, who turned 22 on Tuesday, scored 15 points in the first half but was limited to just four in the third quarter, when Dallas - which lost both Erick Dampier and Jason Terry to injuries in the first half - fought back.
Shawn Bradley, who scored eight points, gave the Mavericks an 88-83 lead with a pair of free throws with 8:47 remaining before Stoudemire caught fire. His layup broke a 93-93 tie to give Phoenix the lead for good with 4:12 to go.

MADRID, Spain,
Nov. 17--Sven-Goran Eriksson says he is proud of his record as England coach, but will not be satisfied until the team win a major tournament, Reuters reported.
The 56-year-old Swede will be in charge of England for the 48th time when his side play Spain in a friendly at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Eriksson gave a frank assessment of his four-year reign at a news conference on Tuesday, saying: "Forty eight games is a lot of games to be in charge.
"I'm mostly proud of what I've done, for example our wins over Germany away, Argentina in the World Cup, against Turkey and several others.
"I think we've done well in competitive games, but the defeats against Brazil and Portugal when we went out of big tournaments hurt a lot."
The losses against Brazil in the quarterfinal of the 2002 World Cup and against Portugal at the same stage of Euro 2004 are Eriksson's only two defeats in competitive matches since he took charge in 2001.
"I hope and wish that we do better in the future because my job is all about big tournaments," said Eriksson. "Italy, Germany, Spain and England all want to reach the final of big tournaments and I think we can do it."
"What I love most about this job is to win trophies, it's the greatest part of my professional life. But the problem in my job is you only get a chance to win one every two years. It's
not like a club ... and getting to the quarter-finals is not good enough."
But Eriksson was upbeat about the side's future prospects, saying that he believed that the present England squad was stronger than at any time since he has been in charge.
"The team is better than four years ago," he said. "It has more pace maybe, more experience and better technique. I think we have a better side than when we beat Germany 5-1 (in September 2001)."

NEW YORK, Nov. 17--Former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield has been banned from fighting by the New York State Athletic Commission, according to published reports, Reuters said.
The New York Daily News is reporting that Holyfield has been placed on an indefinite medical suspension. The decision by NYSAC chairman Ron Stevens stems from Holyfield's lackluster performance against Larry Donald at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Donald scored an easy unanimous 12-round decision over Holyfield in the first of four bouts on the ÔThe Battle for Heavyweight SupremacyÕ fight card. Donald controlled the action the entire fight, using his jab and overhand right to handle Holyfield, who landed just 78 of 264 punches, or 30 percent.
Meanwhile, Donald landed 260 of 643 punches, or 40 percent.
The ruling by the NYSAC means that Holyfield will have to be cleared by Dr. Barry Jordan of the New York commission before he can box anywhere else in the United States. All other state commissions will honor New York's suspension.
Holyfield said he doesn't agree with the suspension and plans to continue his boxing career.