Twenty four cities from seventeen countries participated in this event. Total players was 116 with 18 GMs, 2 WGMs, 11 IMs, and 1 WIM. GM Wesley Barbasa So (2667), GM Yu Yinyang (2652), GM Lǐ Chāo (2646), GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev (2618), and GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2606) were the top rated players. The teams from Tehran (Iran), Astana (Kazakhstan), Tagaytay (Philippines), and Jakarta (Indonesia) were more a national team rather than a city team. They practically fielded their country’s best players.

Judging from the ratings of the team’s members, only four teams had a real chance to win: Shi Jiazhuang from China (rating average 2583), Tagaytay (2578), Astana (2560), and Tehran (2531). There was a gulf in term of ratings between those teams and the others.

After three rounds all the top teams still had full MP except Tagaytay. Tagaytay had to succumb to defeat to Palembang (Indonesia) in round 2. In that round FM Hamdani Rudin from Palembang made a sensation by beating GM So. In round 4 and 5, Shi Jiazhung beat Tehran and Astana to become a sole leader. In the rounds of 6 and 7 Shi Jiazhung enjoyed playing much weaker teams and won outright. In round 8 Tagaytay tried to stop Shi Jiazhung with no avail. GM John Paul Gomez from Tagaytay lost to Wan Yunguo on the third board. The rest of boards were draw. In the last round Shi Jiazhung easily dispatched Yangon.

The event was concluded with Shi Jiazhung in the first place followed by Astana and Tehran in the second and third place. The best player went to GM Lǐ Chāo from Shi Jiazhung. His rating performance was 2763.

Percasi (Indonesian Chess Federation) officials are left with an uneasy homework to decide which players shall represent Indonesia for 26th SEA Games in November this year. The second Indonesian men team (Palembang) achievement surpassed the first men team (Jakarta). The same thing happened in the Indonesian women teams. The second team Pekanbaru had a better rank than the first team Tarakan. Who would dare to ignore the achievement of Palembang’s players, FM Kasmiran (unbeaten, the third best player overall, and the gold medalist for third board) and Kaisar Jenius Hakiki (the bronze medalist for reserved board)?

/ Taken from IndonesiaBase.com /