Emirati Grandmaster Saleh A.R. Salem continued to dominate the 32-nation field as he won the Asian Blitz Chess Championship alone with 7.5 points out of 9 rounds at the Hilton Hotel in Al Ain. GM Zhu Chen of Qatar won the women’s division by tie-break over two of her former countrymates from China.

Blitz chess requires natural talent for quick thinking. Players have 3 minutes each plus 2 second increments per move on the chess clock. Games last ten minutes compared to one hour in Rapid chess or six hours in the standard chess.

After disposing of Liu Chang of China in the first round, Salem faced an all-grandmaster roster of opponents. He scored six straight wins against Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, Darini Pouria of Iran, Koneru Humpy of India, top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of India and Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan. After a penultimate round loss to eventual runner-up GM Zhang Zhong of Singapore, Salem clinched the blitz title with a draw against GM Al-Sayed Mohammed of Qatar as Zhang lost in the last round. Zhang won the silver medal as he finished with 7 points in a tie with four others, namely Al-Sayed, IM Haridas Pascua of the Philippines, GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and GM S.P. Sethuraman of India. Pascua copped the bronze medal by tie break with more wins and higher average rating of opponents.

Zhu Chen started with a loss to WIM Madina Davletbayeva of Kazakhstan but rebounded with four straight wins against Hanieh Khalaji of Iran, WIM Bayanmunkh Ankhchumeg of Mongolia, WIM Le Kiey Thien Kim of Vietnam and WGM Soumya Swaminathan of India before succumbing to Ghazal Hakimifard of Iran. Then Zhu Chen scored three straight wins against IM Nisha Mohota of India, WGM Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan and GM Harika Dronavalli of India. Zhu Chen tallied 7 points to win the gold medal by tie break over silver medalist WIM Zhai Mo and bronze medalist WGM Wang Jue, both of China.

Live running commentary by GM Tahir Vakhidov and WGM Zhang Jilin is available on youtube. Top boards are broadcast live for Men and Women, and are available for download in the official site asianchess.com with pairings in chess-results.com and photo galleries on facebook and instagram.

The event was organized by the Asian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and UAE Chess Federation.



Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, head of the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Social Development, assisted by Asian Chess Federation Secretary General Hisham Al Taher (far right) awarding medals to the winners of the Asian Continental Chess Championship, champion Saleh A.R. Salem of the UAE, runner-up Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India and third place S.P.Sethuraman of India.



Sheikh Musad Al Zouwahri (left), Asian Chess Federation vice president and president of Al Ahli Club in Saudi Arabia, assisting in the award to the Asian Women's Continental Chess Championship won by Mitra Hejazipour of Iran, runner-up Shen Yang of China and third placer Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman of India.


Blitz won by Saleh A.R. Salem, Zhang Zhong of Singapore and Haridas Pacua of Philippines


Rapid open section won by GM Nguyen Ngoc Truoc Son of Vietnam, silver medalist Chanda Sandipan and bronze medalist Debashis Das, both of India.


Rapid women's section won by Tan Zhongyi of China, silver medalist Tania Sachdev and bronze medalist Harika Dronavalli, both of India