Delhi Grand Master Parimarjan Negi won the Asian Continental Chess Championship despite a final round setback at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on May 13.
Negi scored seven wins, lost two and finished on seven points in the nine-round Swiss format event for 71-players. He gets selected for the World Cup events of FIDE. Salem A R Saleh of the United Arab Emirates defeated Negi with a crisp king side attack in the final round to take the third place.
Negi who became the youngest grandmaster early in his career, recorded a stunning 2755 Elo rating performance. It means, a player with a rating of 2755 needed to score 7/9 against this give opposition to hold on to his rating.
Our National Women's champion Mary Ann Gomes of Kolkata came close to the title but a final round defeat cost her the gold medal. Irine Sukandar of Indonesia won the final round and sailed over Mary Ann to win the title with seven points from nine rounds. Tan Zhongyi who spoilt Mary Ann's chances by defeating her in the final round took the bronze medal and Mary Ann was pushed to silver medal.
Final placings (tie-break order):
Open: 1-2. GM Parimarjan Negi (Ind), GM Yu Yangyi (Chn) 7/9 each; 3 GM Salem A R Saleh (UAE) 6.5; 4-10. IM Liu Qingnan (Chn), GM Oliver Barbosa (Phi), GM Ding Liren (Chn), GM Ni Hua (Chn), GM Wesley So (Phi), GM Wen Yang (Chn), GM Lu Shanglei (Chn) 6 each.
Women: 1 WGM Irine Sukandar (Ina) 7/9; 2-5. WGM Mary Ann Gomes (Ind), WGM Tan Zhongyi (Chn), Wang Jue (Chn), WGM Ding Yixin (Chn) 6.5 each; 6 GM Zhao Xue (Chn) 6; 7-10. WGM Le Thanh Tu (Vie), IM Eesha Karavade, WGM Padmini Rout (both Ind), WGM Guo Qi (Chn) 5.5 each.
