Emirati Grandmaster Saleh A.R. Salem (left) won the Asian Continental Chess Championships 2015 that took place from August 2-10, 2015 at the Hilton Hotel in Al Ain, UAE. He ensured his crown with a last round draw with GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of India.
Tournament website/ Men’s games with analysis/ Women’s games with analysis/ Youtube/ Facebook/ Instagram
Salem, who was seeded 11th at the start of the 32-nation tournament, had beaten IM S. Nitin of India, drew with Xu Yinglun of China, beat IM Asyl Abdyjapar of Kyrgyzstan, lost to IM Lin Chen of China, won four straight rounds against Liu Chang of China, Indian GM Vishnu Prasanna and national champion S.P. Sethuraman and second seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam before his last round draw with Gujrathi.
Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (left) beat GM Zhang Zhong of Singapore in the final round to win the silver medal. Ganguly, 32, tied Salem at 7 points each but the Emirati GM had a better tie-break score with more wins than the Indian GM.
It was a good day for Indian men as GM S.P. Sethuraman won the bronze medal. The Indian national champion prevailed in the tie-break as he finished with 6.5 points together with Gujrathi and GM Zhou Jianchao of China. They share the bulk of the $50,000 prize for the men.
The top five qualify to the World Cup next month in Baku, Azerbaijan. Salem had already pre-qualified from last year`s Asian Continental while Sethuraman had qualified from the Indian Zonal. Thus their slots went to the two players next in line, untitled 15-year-old Maghsoodloo Parham of Iran and GM Lalith Babu of India, who finished in an 8-way tie with 6 points each but had the better tie break with more wins.
WIM Mitra Hejzipour
WIM Mitra Hejazipour (left) of Iran won the gold medal in the women`s division and the right to represent Asia in the Women`s World Chess Championship. Hejazipour used the Sicilian defense Najdorf variation to beat Indian WGM Mary Ann Gomes in 39 moves.
The Iranian tallied 7 points in a tie with IM Shen Yang of China but with better tie break of 7 wins against 5 wins of the Chinese silver medalist.
It was a bad day for the Indian women as Shen Yang crushed the King`s Indian defense of Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman in 47 moves. The Indian WGM had to satisfy herself with the bronze medal after leading in the homestretch.
Tied at 6.5 points each are WIM Pratyusah Bodda of India and WGM Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan for a share of the $25,000 in total prize money for the women.
Live running commentary by GM Tahir Vakhidov and WGM Zhang Jilin is watched worldwide on Youtube.
The event is organized by the Asian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and UAE Chess Federation.
The Asian Rapid Chess championship and Blitz chess championship follow the main event with a total of $12,000 in cash prizes.
Men’s tournament final standings:
1 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2595 7
2 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2631 7
3 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2635 6,5
4 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2644 6,5
5 GM Zhou Jianchao CHN 2600 6,5
6 Maghsoodloo Parham IRI 2416 6
7 GM Lalith Babu M.R. IND 2570 6
8 IM Lin Chen CHN 2494 6
9 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2619 6
10 GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2493 6
11 GM Debashis Das IND 2489 6
12 GM Le Quang Liem VIE 2699 6
13 GM Sasikiran Krishnan IND 2640 6
14 GM Vakhidov Jahongir UZB 2525 5,5
15 GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2510 5,5
16 GM Darini Pouria IRI 2501 5,5
17 GM Zhang Zhong SIN 2628 5,5
18 IM Karthikeyan P. IND 2426 5,5
19 GM Sengupta Deep IND 2594 5,5
20 GM Koneru Humpy IND 2585 5,5
21 Utegaliyev Azamat KAZ 2469 5,5
22 IM Tabatabaei M.Amin IRI 2458 5
23 GM Nguyen Duc Hoa VIE 2500 5
24 IM Rathnakaran K. IND 2417 5
25 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2502 5
26 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2585 5
27 GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib BAN 2473 5
28 GM Idani Pouya IRI 2568 5
29 IM Wang Chen CHN 2524 5
30 GM Gao Rui CHN 2528 5
31 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son VIE 2662 5
32 GM Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan MGL 2492 5
33 GM Dzhumaev Marat UZB 2493 5
34 IM Wang Yiye CHN 2439 5
35 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2509 5
36 GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan IRI 2609 5
37 Xu Yinglun CHN 2463 5
38 Yuan Qingyu CHN 2359 4,5
39 IM Chu Wei Chao CHN 2318 4,5
40 FM Tologontegin Semetey KGZ 2390 4,5
41 IM Lou Yiping CHN 2454 4,5
42 IM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan IND 2481 4,5
43 GM Hossain Enamul BAN 2436 4,5
44 IM Asgarizadeh Ahmad IRI 2407 4,5
45 GM Venkatesh M.R. IND 2484 4,5
46 Liu Chang CHN 2353 4,5
47 IM Nezad Husein Aziz QAT 2404 4,5
48 GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy VIE 2496 4,5
49 FM Byambaa Zulzaga MGL 2258 4,5
50 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2562 4,5
51 Mamyrbay Assad KAZ 2217 4
52 GM Kostenko Petr KAZ 2431 4
53 Asgharzadeh M.Reza IRI 2276 4
54 IM Isaev Jamshed TJK 2300 4
55 IM Iyti Basher SYR 2305 4
56 GM Sharavdorj Dashzegve MGL 2423 4
57 IM Pascua Haridas PHI 2447 4
58 GM Batchuluun Tsegmed MGL 2485 4
59 GM Rahman Ziaur BAN 2509 4
60 IM Nitin S. IND 2404 4
61 IM Saiyn Zhanat KAZ 2404 4
62 Xu Xiangyu CHN 2257 4
63 FM Li Di CHN 2384 3,5
64 FM Abdulwahhab Ahmed Abdulsattar IRQ 2297 3,5
65 FM Bayarmandakh Balgan MGL 2225 3,5
66 IM Baimurzin Aitkazy KAZ 2096 3,5
67 CM Al-Hajiri Bader KUW 2238 3,5
68 IM Abdyjapar Asyl KGZ 2392 3,5
69 FM Xu Yi CHN 2365 3,5
70 IM Lodhi Mahmood PAK 2310 3,5
71 FM Salih Akar Ali Salih IRQ 2359 3,5
72 CM Alattar Rakan JOR 2012 3
73 FM Saeed Ishaq UAE 2252 3
74 Bahaa M.T. Maswada PLE 1855 3
75 CM Shrestha Keshav NEP 2118 3
76 FM Galappaththi Chinthaka Anurud SRI 2066 3
77 Nassar Marwan LIB 2030 3
78 FM Hj Azahari Md Aliuddin BRU 2024 3
79 FM Ayyad Maher BRN 2122 2,5
80 Ezizov Jumamuhammet TKM 1789 2,5
81 Al Houti Houd OMA 0 2,5
82 Sulimani Yaser KSA 1760 2
83 Bukhari Mohameed KSA 1737 2
Women’s tournament final standings:
1 WIM Hejazipour Mitra IRI 2321 7
2 IM Shen Yang CHN 2443 7
3 IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman IND 2341 6,5
4 WIM Pratyusha Bodda IND 2194 6,5
5 WGM Saduakassova Dinara KAZ 2401 6,5
6 WGM Aulia Medina Warda INA 2412 6
7 WGM Lei Tingjie CHN 2436 6
8 IM Tania Sachdev IND 2390 6
9 WGM Gomes Mary Ann IND 2314 6
10 IM Li Ruofan SIN 2374 6
11 IM Padmini Rout IND 2444 5,5
12 WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An VIE 2219 5,5
13 WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND 2325 5,5
14 WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa IRI 2341 5,5
15 WGM Zhang Xiaowen CHN 2376 5,5
16 WGM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung VIE 2227 5,5
17 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2409 5,5
18 WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2512 5
19 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2412 5
20 WIM Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz UZB 2264 5
21 WFM Li Yunshan CHN 1835 5
22 WGM Wang Jue CHN 2360 5
23 WIM Dauletova Gulmira KAZ 2278 5
24 WGM Kulkarni Bhakti IND 2262 4,5
25 Khalaji Hanieh IRI 1965 4,5
26 WIM Le Kieu Thien Kim VIE 2226 4,5
27 WIM Ankhchimeg Bayanmunkh MGL 2180 4,5
28 WIM Davletbayeva Madina KAZ 2243 4,5
29 WIM Zhai Mo CHN 2406 4,5
30 IM Mohota Nisha IND 2259 4,5
31 IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen VIE 2332 4,5
32 WIM Hakimifard Ghazal IRI 2219 4,5
33 Chu Ruotong CHN 2048 4,5
34 WIM Shamima Akter Liza BAN 2155 4
35 Liu Manli CHN 1995 4
36 Mir Mahmoud Afamia SYR 1949 4
37 Hong Xing CHN 1882 4
38 WGM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan KAZ 2327 4
39 WIM Otgonjargal Sengeravdan MGL 2213 4
40 WIM Al-Rufaye Iman Hasan Mohammed IRQ 2088 4
41 Hakimifard Raana IRI 2084 4
42 WFM Alattar Ghayda M. JOR 1913 3,5
43 WIM Nouman Amna UAE 1935 3,5
44 WFM Antonova Nadezhda TJK 2011 3,5
45 WFM Asgarizadeh Minoo IRI 2180 3,5
46 Alymbay Kyzy Aizhan KGZ 1903 3,5
47 WFM Boshra Alshaeby JOR 1987 3,5
48 WCM Al Maamari Wafia Darwish UAE 1500 3,5
49 WIM Al-Harmoudi Mona UAE 1745 3,5
50 WGM Enkhtuul Altan-Ulzii MGL 2269 3,5
51 WFM Hj Azahari Siti Nur Fatimah BRU 2073 3,5
52 WFM Al Dhaffari Salma UAE 1655 3
53 WCM Ezizova Bagul TKM 1518 3
54 Aseel Odeh JOR 1588 3
55 WIM Algildah Nibal SYR 1920 2,5
56 WIM Al-Zarouni Kholoud Essa UAE 1840 2,5
57 Faqeeh Aseel JM PLE 1599 1
