BHUBANESWAR 08-Apr-2016
Indian Oil and Odisha International Master Padmini Rout bagged one individual bronze medal each in women rapid and blitz events of the Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship, which was held at Novotel Hotel in Abu Dhabi from March 28 to April 8.
Bhubaneswar lass Padmini secured the rapid bronze on fourth board and blitz bronze on second board. She was also part of the Indian women team that finished fourth with 12 points. Top seed China won the title with 15 points, while Uzbekistan (14 points) and Kazakhstan (13 points) finished second and third respectively.
Second seed India would have won the bronze had they beaten Iran in the last round. But the the Indians settled with a draw to miss the podium finish. In the final round against Iran, Soumya lost but Bhakti won, Harika and Padmini drew. Earlier, India drew China, lost to Vietnam and Kazakhstan by 1.5-2.5 and beat the rest.
However, Indian men emerged champions beating Vietnam 3-1 in the final round. India reached 17 points to win by a two point difference over World and Olympiad champions China. Top seed China finished second with 15 points, while Kazakhstan and Iran took the third and fourth places respectively.
This is the third time that Indian men won the title in this championship. They earlier won at Esfahan, Iran in 2005 and Kolkata 2009 previously. India drew Mongolia and beat the rest of the teams in a 22-team nine round Swiss on four boards with one reserve.
INDIVIDUAL SCORE:
Indian men: B Adhiban 6.5/9, SP Sethuraman 5/8, Vidith Santosh Gujrathi 7/9, K Sasikiran 5/7, Deep Sengupta 2½/3.
Indian women: Harika 4½/7, Tania 5/8, Padmini 5/8, Soumya Swaminathan 7/9 and Bhakti Kulkarni 4/4.
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