Iran, China Win Asia Titles

Iran men’s team and China women’s squad were crowned at the 20th Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship in Hamedan on Friday.

One of three Iranian teams “Iran Green” finished as the champion of the continental event after seven rounds of the games. China’s team stood in second place and Kazakhstan came in third. The other Iranian team “Iran Red” finished fourth. All-time powerhouse India came in a poor fifth.

In the blitz category, Iran men’s team also won the title last week and China finished second.

Seyyed Mohammad-Amin Tabatabaei, Alireza Firouzja, Masoud Mosadeqpour and grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo played for Iran Green.

Mehrdad Pahlavanzadeh, Head of Iran Chess Federation called the men’s team performance “historical” as the nation has not gained such success over six decades.

“Iran has not been better than now in the last 63 years,” said Pahlavanzadeh. “It was always a dream to bring down powerhouses China and India. Now the dream has come true.”

In the women’s division, the Chinese won the title a day earlier due to the high margin with the second place winner Vietnam. India took bronze while “Iran Green” team, in women’s category, finished fifth after Uzbekistan’s fourth place.

Chinese women also took the top spot in the women blitz games, India came in second and Iranians third. The champions in both men and women categories secured World Championship berth as well. Iran Chess Federation on behalf of the Asian Chess Federation organized the event.

 The tourist city of Hamedan, one of the oldest cities in Iran, hosted the games from July 27 to August 4.