India, China clinch Asian titles

dubai — India won the 20-team men’s Asian Nations Cup Chess Team Championship while China retained the women’s crown at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan hotel, Tuesday night.

GMs R.B. Ramesh (captain), B. Adhiban, S.P. Sethuraman, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Krishnan Sasikiran, and Deep Sengupta played with the same consistent form that saw them surge ahead earlier in the tournament.

India clinched the title with a decisive last round 3-1 victory over Vietnam on wins by Sethuraman and Sasikiran and draws by Adhiban and Vidit. India scored a total of 17 match points, two points ahead of defending champions China who blanked UAE-1, 4-0. Kazakhstan edged Mongolia 2.5-1.5 to finish in third place with 14 match points.

In the other matches in the men’s category, Iran blanked Bangladesh 4-0, Uzbekistan outclassed Jordan 4-0, Iraq drew 2-2 with Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka drew 2-2 with Oman, Afghanistan drew 2-2 with Nepal, Lebanon blanked UAE-3, 4-0, Tajikistan drew 2-2 with UAE-2 and Palestine beat Kuwait 3.5-0.5.

Iran placed fourth with 12 match points followed by Uzbekistan on 11, UAE-1, Mongolia and Bangladesh with 10 each, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Oman with 9 points each, Sri Lanka and Jordan with 8, Palestine and UAE-2 with 7, Nepal and Kuwait with 5, Tajikistan with 3 and UAE-3 with 2.

The individual board gold medallists were GM Bu Xiangzhi of China on board 1 by a performance rating of 2,765, Wang Yue of China on board 2, Vidit of India on board 3, child prodigy 13-yearold Alireza Firouzja of Iran on board 4 with a high rating performance of 2,644 and GM Zhou Jianchao of China on board 5.

The Chinese women caught up to win their division with 15 match points, barely ahead of Uzbekistan in second place with 14 match points and Kazakhstan in third place with 13. The Indian women finished with 12.