Adhiban Finishes Second, Qualifies For World Cup

Adhiban Finishes Second, Qualifies For World Cup
BY Arvind Aaron

The World Junior champion Yu Yangyi of China and Irine Sukandar of Indonesia won the Asian Continental Championships that concluded at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on April 25, 2014.

Yu Yangyi is seeded for the FIDE World Cup, being the World Junior champion. He still played and won the Asian Championship. Yu Yangyi was one of the three undefeated players as he finished half a point ahead of he 64-player pack. Yu Yangyi scored seven points from nine rounds to win this event.

Former world under-16 champion and India No.2 Adhiban finished second after figuring in a tie for the second to fifth places. He stopped the Chinese from making a podium sweep. Adhiban played in the earlier World Cup at Norway and also earns a place in the next World Cup for his second finishing here.

Irine Sukandar who had won with a round to spare suffered her only defeat to top seed Tan Zhongyo in the final round. This result ensured that all 32 players in the field suffered atleast one defeat. Despite this, Irine is gaining 37 Elo points.

Final placings:

Open: 1 Yu Yangyi (Chn) 7/9; 2-5. B Adhiban (Ind), Ni Hua (Chn), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb), Wen Yang (Chn) 6.5 each; 6-10. Salem Saleh (UAE), Bu Xiangzhi (Chn), Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vie), S.P. Sethuraman, P Negi (both Ind) 6 each.

Women: 1 Irine Sukandar (Ina) 7/9; 2-4. Atousha Pourkashiyan (Iri), Tan Zhongyi (Chn), Hoang Thi Bai Tram (Vie) 6 each; 5-9. Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri), Gong Qianyun (Sin), Nguyen Thi Thanh An (Vie), Eesha Karavade (Ind), Pham Le Thao Nguyen (Vie) 5.5 each; 10 Tania Sachdev (Ind) 5.