Hoang Thanh, Xu Jun Bag Asian Titles

By Manisha Mohite, in Udaipur

The two winners Xu Jun of China and Hoang Thanh Trang. Photos: Courtesy Chess Base GmbH, Chess Mate file.

Third seed WGM Hoang Thanh Trang of Vietnam tallied nine points to win the Asian Women's Championship here in Udaipur, India on January 21. This 20-year-old is also an IM and is currently based in Hungary. She is a former world junior girls champion. She pocketed $600 for her efforts in a 19-player field. She finished ahead of her two Chinese top seeds. In the Men's event which attracted 27 entries, GM Xu Jun of China prevailed in a section dominated by his fellow countrymen. Xu scored 8.5/11 for unshared first place.

Norms recorded in the event:
1. IWM S Vijayalakshmi earned a nine game WGM norm, incidentally her third one but her norms are spanning 29 games, one short for the WGM title requirement.
2. S S Ganguly earned a 11-game IM norm, his second one.
3. FM P.Harikrishna earned a nine game IM norm, his first one.
4. FM Ghaem Meghami Ehsan of Iran earned a 9 game IM norm.

Final standings: 1 GM Xu Jun (Chn) 8.5, 2 GM Zhang Zhong (Chn) 8, 3 GM Peng Xiaomin (Chn) 8, 4 GM Dao Thien Hai (Vie) 7.5, 5 IM K Sasikiran (Ind) 7, 6 IM R B Ramesh (Ind) 6.5, 7 GM Wang Zili (Chn) 6, 8 IM Abhijit Kunte (Ind) 6,  9 IM Vahidov Tair (Uzb) 6, 10 GM Pravin Thipsay (Ind) 6. Others (points order) 11-12 FM P.Harikrishna (Ind), FM Ghaem Meghami Ehsan (Ira) 6 each, 13-19 GM Yuldashev Saydalli (Uzb), IM Wu Wenjin (Chn), S.S.Ganguly (Ind), S.Kidambi (Ind) GM D.Barua (Ind), Hatem Ibrahim Ahamed (Yem), IM Dimitry Kayumov (Uzb) 5.5 each,  20-23 IM G.B.Prakash (Ind), IM Reefat Bin Sattar (Ban), IM Devaki Prasad (Ind), IM Jamshed Isaev (Tzk) 5 each, 24-25 IM N.Sudhakar Babu (Ind), IM Ziaur Rahman (Ban) 4.5 each, 26 FM Tim Reilly (Aus) 3.5, 27 Razaei Saravi Reza (Ira) 1.5.

Women: 1 WGM Hoang Thanh Trang (Vie) 9, 2 WGM Qin Kanying (Chn) 8.5, 3 WGM Mamedova Rena (Uzb) 7.5, 4 WGM Wang Pin (Chn) 7.5, 5 IWM Maria Sargeeva (Uzb) 7, 6 IWM S.Vijayalakshmi (Ind) 6.5, . Others (points order) 7-9 WFM Saheli Barua (Ind), Tania Sachdev (Ind), IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay (Ind) 6 each,  10-13 IWM Koneru Humpy (Ind), IWM Sargeeva Tatiana (Uzb), Swati Ghate (Ind), WFM Tanima Parveen (Ban) 5.5 each, 14-16 IWM Rani Hamid (Ban), WFM Safira Shanaz (Ind), IWM Xu Yuanyuan (Chn) 5 each, 17 Narelle Szuvege (Aus) 3.5, 18 Vineetha Wijesuriya (Sri) 3, 19 Siti Zulaika (Mal) 1.