Asian Continental Chess Championship: MANILA- Chess masters bring home Asian bronzes

IM Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên wins a bronze at the Asian Chess Championship in Manila. — Photo baomoi.com

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HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam picked up two bronze medals at the Asian Continental Chess Championship which closed yesterday in Manila, the Philippines.

National leading Grandmaster Lê Quang Liêm finished third in the Open category. The No 3 seed earned 6.5 points after nine rounds, behind No 2 Wei Yi of China, and No 15 Amin Tabatabaei from India. All of them had the same 6.5 points but Wei won due to his better parameters.

Another Vietnamese in top 10 was GM Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn finishing fifth with six points.

On the women’s side, International Master Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên missed her second place after a draw in the eighth match. She pocketed 6.5 points, 0.5 less than the top two masters.

Indian women’s GM Rout Padmini made a bang as the No 8 seed left all title favourites behind to win the gold medal. IM Gong Qianyun of Singapore came second.

An outright GM title will be given automatically to the champion and a US$10,000 cash prize.

The top five finishers in the men’s side will gain spots to the World Chess Cup 2019 set on November 4-30 in Khanty-Mansyisk, Russia where the top two will automatically booked a berth to the Candidates Tournament serving as the last stop before the next World Championship in 2020. — VNS