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The Asian Nations Chess Cup is underway from May 17 - 26 in Zaozhuang, Shandong, China. The event is a nine-round event bringing together many of Asia's top players including Wang Hao (2730), Krishnan Saskiran (2720), Le Quang Liem (2703), and more.
Asian Chess Federation president Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifah Al Nahyan makes the
ceremonial opening move on board one of top seed China vs. Iraq. Looking on are Zao
Zhuang Vice Mayor and Chinese Chess Association officials.
As the host country, China is fielding two teams in the men's section, and three in the women's section. In the men's competition, top-seed China 1 (avg. 2703) has taken off like a rocket, and the inspired players have only been held to a single team draw after seven rounds by second-ranked India (avg. 2674). The star of the competition has been first board Wang Hao with 5.0/6 and a hefty 2860 performance.
An arbiter overlooking the Indian team
Usually, such events in mainland China report results and reports in Chinese, with an assortment of pictures to be gleaned from a variety of sources, but not this time. Not only are there round-by-round reports in English, but the photo album provided actually has every player labeled (as a reporter, pictures of lesser-known players can be a headache), and the cherry on the top: video reports on every round. To be applauded.
China 2 and Vietnam start their match
The area has numerous places to visit and see
A Chinese wearing Robespierre's glasses?
A humorous scene in which the monkey holds the human with a collar to do tricks
| Rk | Team | Team |
Gms |
+ |
= |
- |
MPts |
GPts |
| 1 | China 1 | CHN 1 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
22.5 |
| 2 | India | IND |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
19.0 |
| 3 | Kazakhstan | KAZ |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
16.5 |
| 4 | China 2 | CHN 2 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
15.5 |
| 5 | Vietnam | VIE |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
18.0 |
| 6 | Singapore | SIN |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
17.0 |
| 7 | Mongolia | MGL |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
16.5 |
| 8 | Iran | IRI |
7 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
15.5 |
| 9 | Iraq | IRQ |
7 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
13.5 |
| 10 | Indonesia | INA |
7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
13.0 |
| 11 | Korea | KOR |
7 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
12.0 |
| 12 | Yemen | YEM |
7 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
10.0 |
| 13 | Hong Kong | HKG |
7 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
5.5 |
| 14 | ChineseTaipei | TPE |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
1.5 |
The tournament playing hall
The women's event was dominated by the top Chinese team playing with GM Zhao Zue (2549) on top board, and Zhao has been the star of the event as well with 4.5/5 and a 2708 performance. The Indian team, second seed but still yielding 64 Elo to the Chinese, also won all their matches but one: their loss to China 2 in the first round.
The Iranian women's team performed well, and had a very well balanced lineup
| Rk | Team | Gms |
+ |
= |
- |
MPts |
| 1 | China 1 | 7 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
| 2 | India | 7 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
| 3 | China 2 | 7 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
| 4 | China 3 | 7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
| 5 | Iran | 7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
| 6 | Indonesia | 7 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
| 7 | Kazakhstan | 7 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
| 8 | Vietnam | 7 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
| 9 | Mongolia | 7 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
| 10 | Singapore | 7 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
The event also included a team blitz competition in which the top Chinese teams declined to participate. The men's event was won by Vietnam, and the women's by China 2.
Pictures by Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh
Video report on Opening ceremony and first round
Video report on the Blitz competitions
LinksYou can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com. |
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