Sasikiran wins Bronze at 5th Asian Indoor Games

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/09/2017

Sasikiran Krishnan adds another feather to his cap by winning Bronze medal for India in 5th Asian Indoor Games 2017 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in the Standard format of the game. The gold medal went to Le Quang Liem, silver to Lu Shanglei and bronze to Sasi. In the women's section Indians didn't win a medal. It was two Chinese girls Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie at the top followed by Dinara Saduakassova with the bronze medal. We have the final day games, pictures and standings in this report.

Sasikiran wins Bronze in 5th Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Sasikiran Krishnan is the only Indian to have won a medal in the Standard format of 5th Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Among other Indians, Surya Sekhar Ganguly finished in 9th position among Men whereas Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman secured 7th place and her compatriot Tania Sachdev secured 11th among women.

A proud moment for Indian chess! Sasi with his bronze medal |Photo: R.B. Ramesh

In the final round, Sasikiran faced IM Annaberdiev Meilis of Turkmenistan. In an Italian Opening, Meilis gave no chances to Sasi to gain a full point and maybe score a different medal.

Sasi before his final round game against local IM Annaberdiev Meilis | Photo: Vishal Sareen

Ganguly faced a strong opponent in the last round in the name of GM Lu Shanglei of China in Caro Kann Defence: Two Knight's variation.

GM Lu Shanglei is all set to face GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly in the final round | Photo: Vishal Sareen

You can learn about this variation by getting The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 by the 4th Indian to cross 2700, GM Vidit Gujrathi

Among the women, Tania faced a crushing defeat against Vietnamese WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram in Nimzo Indian Defence. Playing passive did not help her case and blundering a Bishop on move no. 22 sealed her fate.

WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram denied IM Tania Sachdev's wishes | Photo: Vishal Sareen

Viji smashed Iranian IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh in Nimzo Indian Defence. Sarasadat blundered an exchange on move no. 26 when she played Qe8.

Viji's game face is on before her final round battle against Iranian IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat | Photo: Vishal Sareen

Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian flags at the closing ceremony | Photo: R.B. Ramesh

The three winners! | Photo: R.B. Ramesh

The photo is not so clear but Gold goes to Le Quang Liem, Silver to Lu Shanglei and Bronze to Sasikiran Krishnan | Photo: R.B. Ramesh

In the women's section it was Tan Zhongyi who picked the gold, silver to Lei Tingjie and bronze to Dinara Saduakassova | Photo: Kema Goryaeva

Final Standings of Top 10 in Men

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2739	5,5	0,5	28,0	31,5	4,0	23,75	7	5,5	5,09	0,41	10	4,1
2	5	GM	Lu Shanglei	CHN	2628	5,5	0,5	27,5	31,0	4,0	23,50	7	5,5	4,30	1,20	10	12,0
3	3	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2676	5,0	0,0	27,0	30,0	3,0	20,50	7	5	4,94	0,06	10	0,6
4	26	IM	Markov Mikhail	KGZ	2390	5,0	0,0	25,5	29,0	3,0	20,25	7	5	2,01	2,99	10	29,9
5	19	GM	Hossain Enamul	BAN	2432	5,0	0,0	25,5	27,5	4,0	18,25	7	5	3,34	1,66	10	16,6
6	10	GM	Idani Pouya	IRI	2566	5,0	0,0	25,0	27,5	4,0	17,75	7	5	4,33	0,67	10	6,7
7	8	GM	Kazhgaleyev Murtas	KAZ	2570	4,5	0,0	26,5	29,5	3,0	17,25	7	4,5	4,25	0,25	10	2,5
8	2	GM	Wang Yue	CHN	2699	4,5	0,0	26,0	29,5	3,0	18,75	7	4,5	5,50	-1,00	10	-10,0
9	4	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2665	4,5	0,0	26,0	29,0	3,0	17,25	7	4,5	5,32	-0,82	10	-8,2
10	16	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	TJK	2455	4,5	0,0	25,5	28,0	4,0	15,50	7	4,5	3,66	0,84	10	8,4

Complete Final Standings in Men

Final Standings of Top 10 in Women

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	2	GM	Tan Zhongyi	CHN	2509	6,0	0,0	29,0	33,0	5,0	28,25	7	6	4,58	1,42	10	14,2
2	1	GM	Lei Tingjie	CHN	2534	5,5	0,0	29,0	33,0	5,0	25,00	7	5,5	4,83	0,67	10	6,7
3	3	IM	Saduakassova Dinara	KAZ	2444	5,0	0,0	27,0	31,0	3,0	21,50	7	5	4,58	0,42	10	4,2
4	10	WGM	Aulia Medina Warda	INA	2375	5,0	0,0	26,0	27,0	4,0	17,00	6	4	3,49	0,51	10	5,1
5	7	WGM	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	VIE	2408	5,0	0,0	25,0	28,0	4,0	18,00	7	5	4,85	0,15	10	1,5
6	6	GM	Zhu Chen	QAT	2424	5,0	0,0	24,0	26,0	5,0	17,50	7	5	5,13	-0,13	10	-1,3
7	11	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	IND	2358	5,0	0,0	23,0	25,5	5,0	15,50	7	5	5,03	-0,03	10	-0,3
8	5	IM	Abdumalik Zhansaya	KAZ	2428	4,5	0,0	28,0	31,0	3,0	18,25	7	4,5	4,53	-0,03	10	-0,3
9	12	WIM	Vo Thi Kim Phung	VIE	2349	4,5	0,0	24,0	26,0	4,0	13,25	7	4,5	4,19	0,31	20	6,2
10	13	WGM	Hejazipour Mitra	IRI	2345	4,5	0,0	23,5	26,5	4,0	16,00	6	3,5	4,09	-0,59	20	-11,8

Complete Final Standings in Women

Standard Format in 5th Asian Indoor Games is over. However Men and Women Rapid Team, Men and Women under 23 Rapid Team, Men and Women Blitz Team will get underway from 25th September 2017. Stay tuned for all the updates.