Today one of the biggest sports events in Asia finishes: the 16th Asian Games. Similar to the Olympics, the Asian Games is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. For the second time, chess was one of the sports.

The Asian Games were held for the 16th times this year. The history of this sports event goes back to 1912, when for the first time a gathering known as the Far Eastern Games was held between the Empire of Japan, the Philippine Islands and China. Due to the second Sino-Japanese War and the second World War no Games were held between 1934 and 1950. In that year the first 'Asian Games' were held in New Delhi, after the Asian Athletic Federation was founded in 1949.

This year the Games were held in Guangzhou, China - the capital of the Guangdong province located in southern China on the Pearl River, about 120 km northwest of Hong Kong.

The 16th Asian Games included no less than 42 sports, from Athletics to Rugby to Dragon Boat (!) and, since 2006, also chess - next to other board games, like Weiqi and Xiangqi.

The chess part saw to separate tournaments: individual and team competitions. The individual event, held November 13-16, was basically a rapid event over nine rounds, with separate men's and women's sections. The rate of play was 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment.

From the 46 players, Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan) and Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) finished shared first with a score of 7.5/9, ahead of Bu Xiangzhi (China), Murtas Kazhgaleyev (Kazachstan) and Surya Ganguly (India). Kasimdzhanov won the gold medal thanks to a better tiebreak: he had won the direct encounter.

Le Quang Liem (silver), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (gold) and Bu Xiangzhi (bronze)

In the Women's section 38 players played. Hou Yifan from China reigned supreme and took gold with 8.5/9, conceding a draw only to Dronavalli Harika from India, who won the bronze medal. In this tournament silver went to Zhao Xue (China).

In the team championships the rate of play was 90 minutes for the game plus 30 seconds increment from move 1. Both the Men's and the Women's sections started with a 7-round Swiss event, followed by a 2-round knockout. In both sections China won the gold medals. In the Men's the Philippines took silver and India bronze, while in the Women's section Uzbekistan took silver and Vietnam bronze.

The Chinese women's team

Selection of games

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Photos © Asian Games

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN: Men Rapid | Women Rapid | Men Teams | Women
  Teams | Men Team Finals | Women Team Finals via TWIC