The 2014 Asian Nations Cup is underway in Tabriz, Iran, and will run from May 20-30, 2014. It is a team event with men's and women competitions in blitz, rapid, and standard time controls. The first event is the rapid games competitions followed by the standard time controls, and finally on the last day the blitz event will be held.
The Iranian media has been providing ample coverage
In the Open competition, China had been leading with not only an impeccable score, but had been beating strong rivals with huge scores. Consider its 3-1 victory over the Vietnamese team, fielding Quang Liem Le (2712) or the 3.5-0.5 win over Kazakhstan. However, round five was the true clash of the titans as the Chinese team played the only rival left: India.
Piece play
The first decisive turning point was the quick win by Krishnan Sasikiran over Yu Yangyi on board two.
This put enormous pressure on the Chiense to restore the balance on other boards, but their lower-rated third and fourth boards were only able to draw, leaving their fate in Ding Liren's hands. Ding Liren (2714) was the favorite against Sethuruman, who came rated 130 Elo less, but unfortunately for him, he squandered no fewer than three clear winning continuations in the endgame, and drew by repetition.
As a result, China lost the match 2.5-1.5 and India took the lead.
The Indians have now taken the lead after beating the hitherto leader China
In round six there were no surprises unless one includes the draw between Vietnam and Iran-A, but the leaderboard was not affected.
Rk |
SNo |
Team | Gms |
+ |
= |
- |
TB |
1 |
2 |
INDIA | 6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
18.0 |
2 |
4 |
CHINA | 6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
20.0 |
3 |
1 |
VIETNAM | 6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
17.0 |
4 |
6 |
IRAN A | 6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
16.5 |
5 |
9 |
KAZAKHSTAN | 6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
15.5 |
6 |
5 |
IRAN B | 6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
10.5 |
7 |
8 |
SRI LANKA | 6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
8.5 |
8 |
7 |
JORDAN | 6 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
5.5 |
9 |
10 |
IRAQ | 6 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
8.0 |
10 |
3 |
OMAN | 6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0.5 |
In the Women's competition, the top teams China and India also locked horns, but in their case there were no surprises, and China came ahead with 2.5-1.5, virtually guaranteeing the gold with one round to go.
Team India was unable to duplicate the success of the men's team. Here Tania Sachdev plays.
The playing hall
Rk |
SNo |
Team |
Gms |
+ |
= |
- |
TB |
1 |
2 |
CHINA | 4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
11.0 |
2 |
3 |
INDIA | 4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
11.0 |
3 |
4 |
KAZAKHSTAN | 4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9.0 |
4 |
6 |
IRAN A | 4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
8.5 |
5 |
5 |
VIETNAM | 4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5.0 |
6 |
1 |
IRAN B | 4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3.5 |
LinksThe 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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