China's Zhou takes lead at Hainan Chess Open

HAIKOU, China, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Zhou Jianchao of China took a lead in the eighth round of the "Belt and Road" 2017 Hainan Chess Open in Sanya, China's Hainan Province, on Monday.

Zhou topped the standing with 6 points after defeating Lu Shanglei, also from China.

Li Xueyi of China overwhelmed the leading Prasetyo of Indonesia and destroyed his hope of winning the championship. Prasetyo was tied with Zhang Lanlin and Xu Yang with 6.5 points.

Kicking off on Dec. 17, the Hainan Chess Open will run till Dec. 26, featuring some 60 players from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, the United States, Ukraine and host China to vie for a total prize of 380,000 RMB (about 57,000 US dollars).