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The Third Asian Indoor Games took place in Vietnam at the end of last year. It saw 4500 athletes from 45 Asian countries competing in 24 sports. In the chess competition 19 countries participated. The chess tournaments were held in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, and were very well organized by the National Olympic Committee of Vietnam, with the assistant of the Vietnam Chess Federation.
Tournament Venue in Halong Bay City
We reported in detail on the tournament last December. The story was so extensive that we were unable to include all the pictures sent in by our reporter. These impressions, gathered by him with the chess participants of the Asian Indoor Games are subject of this report.
Ha Long means descending dragon in Vietnamese. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site which features thousands of limestone karsts and 1,960 islets, most of which are also limestone, formed in 20 million years under the impact of the tropical climate. Historical surveys have shown the presence of prehistorical human beings in this area tens of thousands years ago. Today Halong Bay has become one of the most popular travel destinations in Vietnam. It is one of the finalists – we are told in third place – for the new Seven Wonders of the World.
The Bai Chay bridge over the Cua Luc strait links the cultural and economic
centres of Hon Gai and Bay Chay in the northern province of Quang Ninh, is a
single-plane cable-stayed bridge with the longest span in the world –
435 m
It is known as the “Halong String Instrument”
A double-deck wooden ship, the symbol of Halong Bay
Tour of Halong Bay, with the Jordan players seated precariously on the stern
of the ship
Our reporter Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh gets to try his hand at steering the
ship
The ships arrive at their destination and the passengers disembark
The path to the famous limestone cave
Hisham Al-Taher, General Secretary of Asian Chess Federation, and Bharat
Singh,
Secretary of the Delhi Chess Association, climb down to the cave
The Hang Đầu Gỗ or Wooden Stakes Cave has three
large chambers containing
numerous stalactites and stalagmites (as well as 19th century French graffiti)
The Thai players are deeply impressed by the cave
So are Bharat Singh and GM Parimarjan Negi from New Delhi
Some of the fantasy animals depicted in displays aroung Halong Bay –
fortunately
we encountered none of these in our expedition in the in the Wooden Stakes Cave
Chinese players and delegates find all of this fascinating and amusing
Beautiful natural karsts formations in Halong Bay
The famous "Kissing rocks" – but the ships have to circle
to get the right angle...
... because in reality the rocks are quite far apart
B ack on shore FIDE officials get special VIP cars, drivers and translators
The translators are all students of English at college and language school
International Arbiter Nguyen Thi Anh Thu from Vietnam
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Third Asian Indoor Games in Ha Long, Vietnam |
