Grandmaster B Adhiban clinched a silver medal and also a berth at the next year's World Chess Cup after a hard-fought draw with Yu Yangyi of China in the final round of the Asian Continental Chess Championship, here today.
Adhiban, who ended up with 6.5 points, out of a possible nine, had the best tie-break. The silver medal gives the Indian an entry in the 2015 World Chess Cup to be held at Baku, Azerbaijan.
World junior champion Yu Yangyi emerged as the worthy winner for the gold medal, ending with seven points. Ni Hua of China won the bronze medal.
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Former World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov also made it to the World Cup by finishing fourth. The fifth and the last World Cup place went to China's Weng Yan, who defeated highest rated Indian in the fray - Krishnan Sasikiran in the last round.
Among other Indians in the fray, S P Sethuraman and Parimarjan Negi finished ninth and 10th respectively following draws in the final round game. Sethuraman held top seed Bu Xiangzhi to a creditable draw as black while Negi signed peace with Kasimdzhanov.
Adhiban had an eye at the gold and he tried hard. Playing the white side of a Sicilian Taimanov, the Indian went for an attack on the king side but found Yangyi at the top of his game too. The pieces got traded at regular intervals and after 33 moves the peace was signed in a heavy pieces endgame.
In the women's championship that concluded simultaneously, Irine Kharisma Sukandar of Indonesia won the gold medal she had assured herself a round to spare. However the Indonesian lost the last round game against Tan Zhongyi of China who got bronze. The silver medal here went to former champion Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran.
The Indian eves had a dismal performance. International Master Eesha Karavade finished eighth while Tania Sachdev ended tenth overall.
