Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi won the Asian continental chess championship despite losing to A.R. Saleh Salem of UAE in the final round that concluded here on Sunday.
Negi finished the tournament on seven points and was tied for first place along with Yu Yangyi of China. But in their direct encounter earlier in the championship, Negi had beaten Yangyi, which helped him win the gold medal.
It was a shocker for Negi in the last round as he played a level position wrongly against Saleh from a Slav defence game.
Mary Ann second
It was a day of heartbreaks for other Indians. Mary Ann Gomes spoilt her chances of the gold medal in the women's champion for which a draw was enough against Tan Zhongyi of China. The Kolkata-based girl instead lost from a balanced middle game and could only finish on second spot with her best tiebreak.
The results: Final round: Open (Indians unless stated): A.R. Salem Saleh (UAE, 6.5) bt Parimarjan Negi (7); Le Quang Liem (Vie, 5.5) drew with Yu Yangyi (Chn, 7); Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (5.5) drew with John Paul Gomez (Phi, 5.5); Xiu Deshun (Chn, 5.5) drew with M.R. Venkatesh (5.5); Wen Yang (Chn, 6) bt G.N. Gopal (4.5); Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vie, 5) bt Abhijeet Gupta (4); B. Adhiban (5) bt Farid Firman Syah (Ina, 4); Nezad Husein Aziz (Qat, 4.5) drew with S.P. Sethuraman (4); Deepan Chakkravarthy (4) drew with Le Quang Long (Vie, 4); Tran Tuan Minh (Vie, 3.5) drew with N. Srinath (3.5).
Women: Tan Zhongyi (Chn, 6.5) bt Mary Ann Gomes (6.5); Irine Sukandar Kharisma (Ina, 7) bt Eesha Karavade (5.5); Padmini Rout (5.5) lost to Wang Jue (Chn, 6.5); Le Thanh Tu (Vie, 5.5) lost to Ding Yixin (Chn, 6.5); Pham Le Thao Nguyen (vie, 5) drew with Tania Sachdev (5); Guo Qi (Chn, 5.5) bt Swathi Ghate (4.5); Ni Shiqun (Chn, 5) drew with Nisha Mohota (5); Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie, 3.5) lost to B. Pratyusha (4.5); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (4.5) bye. — PTI
