Vidit, Vaishali win bronze at Asian Chess Championship

While Vidit played out a draw to settle for bronze, Vaishali upped her game to win the final round and take the bronze.

Published : May 20, 2017 19:06 IST

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi clinched the bronze in the Asian Championship. (File photo)
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi clinched the bronze in the Asian Championship. (File photo)
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Vidit Santosh Gujrathi clinched the bronze in the Asian Championship. (File photo)

Vidit Gujrathi and R. Vaishali did India proud by winning the bronze medal at the Asian Chess Championship at Chengdu, China, on Saturday.

The fifth-seeded Vidit would have been aiming even higher as he had began the final round as one of the five joint leaders, after beating the host’s Bai Jinshi on the previous day. Playing with black pieces, he, however, had to settle for a draw in the concluding round with top seed Yu Yangyi of China.

Another Chinese, Wang Hao, took the title with seven points, the same as compatriot Bu Xiangzhi, who had a lesser score in the tie-breakers. Vidit finished with 6.5 points.

Half-a-point behind him were two fellow Indians, B. Adhiban and Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who were placed eighth and ninth respectively. S.P. Sethuraman and Deep Sengutha scored 5.5 points each to finish 11th and 13th respectively.

They were followed by Aravind Chithamabram (17th), Karthikeyan Murali (21st) and Sandipan Chanda (28th). They all scored five points each.

In the women’s event, Vaishali scored a crucial win with black pieces over Ngueyen Thi Thanh An of Vietnam to take her tally to 6.5 points and the third place. Another Vietnamese woman, Vo Thi Kim Phung, emerged as the champion, drawing with India’s Mary Ann Gomes, who took the fourth place with six points.

The champion finished her campaign with 7.5 points. The runner-up spot was taken by Kazakhstan’s Gulishkan Nakhbayeva, who scored seven points. She drew with Hoang Thi Bao Tram of Vietnam in the final round.

Like Mary, compatriots Padmini Rout, seeded fourth, and Swat Ghate also scored six points each and were placed seventh and eighth respectively. On 5.5 were four Indians -- Nisha Mohota, Soumya Swaminathan, Kiran Monisha Mohanty and P.V. Nandhidhaa, who took places from 11th to 14th.

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