Abu Dhabi: The Chinese men’s and women’s chess teams secured a double victory in the Rapid chess championship of the Asian Nations Cup organised by the UAE Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan hotel on Wednesday night.
The Chinese men’s team of grandmasters Bu Xiangzhi, Wang Yue, Wei Yi, Lu Shanglei and Zhou Jianchao earned qualification from the preliminary phase after beating Lebanon 4-0, Qatar 4-0, Kazakhstan 3.5-0.5 and drawing 2-2 with Bangladesh and losing 3-1 to India in the Swiss System qualifying round.
China got their revenge in the semi-finals by beating India 3-1 thanks to wins from grandmasters Wei Yi and Zhou Jianchao over Krishnan Sasikiran and S.P. Sethuraman, respectively. In the other semi, Vietnam beat Iran 3.5-0.5.
In the finals, China beat Vietnam 3-1 thanks to victories from Bu Xianghi and Wei Yi over Le Quang Liem and FM Nguyen Anh Khoi. India came third beating Iran 3.5-0.5 after B. Adhiban, Sasikiran and Sethuraman beat Darini Puria, Parham Maghsoodloo and Ali Reza Firouzja, respectively.
Asian champion Salem A.R. Saleh of the UAE won the top-board gold medal with the highest performance rating.
Other gold medalists on their respective boards were GM Adhiban of India on board 2, GM Sasikiran of India on board 3, Iran national champion Firouzja, a 13-year-old child prodigy, on board 4, and Vietnam’s Nguyen Huyn Minh Huy on board 5.
The Chinese women’s team of GMs Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue and WGMs Tan Zhongyie, Lei Tingjie and IM Guo Qi scored more decisive victories. They emerged first in the qualifiers after beating Iran 2.5-1.5, Mongolia 3-1, India 3-1, Kazakhstan 3-1 and Vietnam 2.5-1.5. In the semi-finals, China edged Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5, while India drew 2-2 with Uzbekistan but lost the final berth in the blitz tie-break.
In the women’s final, China convincingly beat Uzbekistan 4-0, while India edged Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5 to come third.
Wenjun of China won the individual gold medal on board 1.
Other gold medallists on their respective boards were Harika Dronavali of India on board 2, Nguyen Thi Thanh An of Vietnam on board 3, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung of Vietnam on board 4 and Guo Qi of China on board 5.
