Zerafa, Saliba lead field

The Preliminaries stage of the National Chess Championship continued this week with another round of matches.

Eighteen players are contesting the top six places which mean automatic qualification for the next phase of the championship - the Candidates tournament.

Round three results: Oliver Said vs Robert Zerafa 0-1; Kevin Attard vs Matthew Saliba 0-1; Patrick Zerafa vs Anthony Muscat Baron 1-0; Ivan Attard vs Michael Cuschieri 1-0; Ian Refalo vs Jean Paul Ebejer 1-0; Martin Webster vs Ray Azzopardi pp; Uwe Lau vs Carmel Francalanza 0-1; Noel Grima vs Robert Dingli 1-0; Stephen Attard vs Daniel Saliba 1-0.

Standings: 1-2. R. Zerafa, M. Saliba - 3 points; 3-7. Said, P. Zerafa, Refalo, Francalanza, I. Attard - 2; 8-9. Muscat Baron, K. Attard - 1.5; 10-16. Lau, Cuschieri, S. Attard, Ebejer, Azzopardi, Webster, Grima - 1; 17-18 Dingli, D. Saliba - 0.

The fourth round will be played tomorrow at the Malta Chess Federation premises in Sliema.