Bhubaneswar: Hosts KIIT had to be satisfied with the runners-up finish in the Asian Cities’ Team Chess Championships, which concluded here Friday. They finished with 14 points after the end of the ninth and final round of the event.
Top-seeded Iranian team Rasht emerged champions after registering a convincing 4-0 victory over Dubai. They ended with 16 points. Dhaka University, Bangladesh finished third with 13 points while Penang, Malaysia secured the fourth position with 12 points.
Rakesh Kumar Jena of KIIT won gold on the second board while Rasht team members Arash Tahbaz, Faghirnavaz Ali, Sadeh Shahin and Soozankar AM won gold medals on first, third, fourth and fifth boards respectively.
KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta gave away the prizes in presence of AICF vice-president Sekhar Chandra Sahu, All Orissa Chess Association secretary KK Sharma and chief arbiter Mahadi Abulrahim at the closing ceremony.
Board prizes: (Board-1) Tahbaz Arash (Rasht), Looi Xin Hao (Penang), Mahfuzur Syed Rahman (Dhaka); (Board-2) Rakesh Kumar Jena (KIIT), Sultan Ibrahim (Dubai), Wong Yinn Long (Penang); (Board-3) Faghirnavaz Ali (Rasht), Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (KIIT), Islam Aminul (Dhaka); (Board-4) Sadeh Shahin (Rasht), Rajesh Nayak (Puri), Tan Jun Ying (Penang); (Board-5) AM Soozankar (Rasht), Taibur Rahman(Dhaka), Kiran Manisha Mohanty (KIIT).
post news network
