Negi wins 11th Asian Continental Chess Championship

The 11th Asian Continental/Individual Open and Women's Chess Championships took place from May 4th to 14th 2012 at the First Hotel, in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. The main tournament was a Swiss of 11 rounds, with time controls or 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. Draw offer is not allowed before 30th move. The Total prize fund is US $65,000, with the winner of the open section getting $6,000 and the winner of the women's $3,000.

Top results of the Open in Classical Chess

Parimarjan Negi (center) with silver medalist GM Yu Yangyi of China (left) and
bronze medalist GM Saleh Salem of the United Arab Emirates.

Top results of the Women's Championship in Classical Chess

Mary Ann Gomes, Irine Kharisma Sukandar and Tan Zhongyi, together with Asian
Chess Federation President Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifah Al Nahyan

Open Blitz Championship

On his arrival in Ho Chi Minh, Sheikh Sultan donated cash to increase the prizes for the blitz to $6,900. GM Wesley So of the Philippines (above center) won gold, IM Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam silver and GM Ding Liren of China bronze.

Women's Blitz Championship

In the women's division, three Chinese finished in a three-way tie with seven points
each: Wang Jue won silver, GM Zhao Xue gold, and WGM Tan Zhongyi bronze.

• Full list of all results and standings in the four tournaments

All the winners: Mary Ann Gomes, Irine Kharisma Sukandar, Zhao Xue, Wang Jue, Tan Zhongyi,
Yu Yangyi, Parimarjan Negi, Salem Saleh, Nguyen Van Huy, Ding Liren, Wesley So

Video reports by Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh

The video reports that kept coming out of Ho Chi Minh city are by our old friend and colleague Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh, who is an International FIDE arbiter, chess trainer and the treasurer of the Asian Chess Federation. He has a background in architecture and speaks fluent Persian, English and Arabic.

We have been egging Mehrdad on, telling him to make full use of his two charming anchors, the Vietnamese girls with the implosive consonants, who very bravely and with professional mien take us through the rounds, interview players.

It is difficult to express our feelings about these video reports. Theoretically chess fans just don't have the time to watch the large number of such reports that are being produced these days, but these are truly exceptional. Who would have thought that an Iranian would show us how to make chess reporting something really enjoyable. We urge you to watch a couple of these reports, which are between five and six and a half minutes long and very professional in their format.

Includes interviews with Le Quang Liem and analysis of games

Interview and analysis with Salem Abdolrahman Saleh

Interview and analysis with Parimarjan Negi

This report starts with the Vietnamese kitchen and food preparation. Interview and analysis with Eesha Karavadeh

A very interesting tour of the city, enchantingly commented by the two anchors, plus the final report

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Open section + Women The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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