15th Asian Games (chess): Doha 2006

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Information

[ Basic data | Tournament review | Best board results | Interesting games ]


Basic data

15th Asian Chess Games
(see all-time tournament summary)
Date: 6th - 14th December 2006
City: Doha, Qatar
Venue: Al-Dana Indoor Hall
Tournament Director: Mr. Yousif Ahmed (QAT)
Chief Arbiter: IA Casto Abundo (PHI)
Teams participating: 21
Players participating: 63 (incl. 19 GMs, 4 WGMs, 8 IMs, 4 WIMs, 4 FMs and 2 WFMs)
Games played: 270
Competition format: Three board nine round Swiss. Only three players per team (2 men + 1 women). No substitutes allowed.
Final order decided by: 1. Game points; 2. Buchholz; 3. Match points
Time control: N/A
Website: http://www.doha-2006.com (cached)
Official logo: Doha 2006 logo
Websites: FIDE preview, ChessBase review
Downloadable game file: 06asiad.zip


Tournament review

Although the Asian Games date back to 1951, where the premier edition took place in India, it is only recently when chess was recognized as a full-right member of the games. There were two individual rapid tournaments scheduled separately for men and women along with a mixed team tournament with classical time control.

GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan won men's event with 7½ points out of 9, ahead of Đào Thiên Hải of Vietnam and Bu Xiangzi of China. GM Humpy easily won women's contest a fraction ahead of Zhao Xue and clear 2 points in front of Chen Zhu of, yes, Qatar.

Bangladesh-IndonesiaThe top two seeded teams were India and China, far ahead the rest of the field, the top four rated players, however, were within four Elo points as Sasikiran, 2675, the top seed, was followed by Harikrishna (India) 2674, Kasimdzhanov 2672 and Bu 2671. India earned easy win stepping from one victory to another. A decisive step was made on day five as they beat runners-up China 3-0. Despite of Indian slip-up the Chinese came second, five points behind the winners. Iran took surprise bronze wiping out hosts Qatar 3-0 on the last round to deny Qataris medal dreams.

Best individual results were achieved by Indian players Sasikiran (board #1) and Humpy (women's board) - 8/9 each. Merganto of Indonesia was winner at board #2 with 7/9.



Best board results

1st Board
no. name code pts gms %
1. GM Sasikiran, Krishnan IND 8 9 88.9
2. GM Sadvakasov, Darmen KAZ 9 72.2
3. GM Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB 6 9 66.7

2nd Board
no. name code pts gms %
1. GM Megaranto, Susanto INA 7 9 77.8
2. GM Harikrishna, Penteala IND 9 72.2
3. GM Moradiabadi, Elshan IRI 9 72.2

Women's Board
no. name code pts gms %
1. GM Humpy, Koneru IND 8 9 88.9
2. GM Zhu Chen QAT 7 9 77.8
3. WGM Zhao Xue CHN 6 9 66.7


Interesting games


Fork-check-mate!
Shortest decisive game and a good example of a helpmate.
Nakagawa, Emiko (JPN) - Chan I Sin (MAC) 1 - 0

Games like this are not uncommon among beginners,
but *are* unique at GM level!
Kazhgaleyev, Murtas (KAZ) - Al-Sayed, Mohamad Naser (QAT) 1 - 0

If you asked me, 29...f4?! was decisive debilitation of black Kingside.
Sasikiran, Krishnan (IND) - Kasimdzhanov, Rustam (UZB) 1 - 0

An obsolete Sicilian line proved adequate tool to beat the Chinese.
Sabirova, Olga (UZB) - Zhao Xue (CHN) 1 - 0