India 'A' men clinch Asian chess title

India 'A' men's quartet clinched the gold medal at the Tata Steel Asian Chess Championship in Kolkata on Monday.

Having already assured themselves of the title after the penultimate round on Sunday, the Indian team of P Harikrishna, K Sasikiran, Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Parimarjan Negi prevailed over Sri Lanka 4-0 to finish with 14 points en route to the gold medal.

India 'A' were the only team to win all their matches in this seven-round tournament at the Town hall in Kolkata.

Vietnam and Iran finished at the second spot with 11 points each but the former took the silver medal on the basis of better tie-breaking points.

In the women's section, overnight leaders Vietnam crushed tail-enders Nepal 4-0 to aggregate 11 points and secure the yellow metal.

The India 'A' women's side, who received a bye in the final round, ended on 10 points to claim the silver.

India 'B' women, however, went down to Iran 3-1, to spoil their chances of a silver. They ended on nine match points along with Iran and were placed fourth on tie break, thus also conceding the bronze to Iran.