In Rapid Chess Men (Open), Malaysia’s Yeoh Li Tian capped an impressive performance by forcing a draw with the black pieces in an advantages position against top seeded Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son in the last round to secure his country’s first ever Gold medal in chess.
Yeoh and Nguyen were already assured of Gold and Silver after outpacing the field with unbeaten scores of 6/7 each, one point clear of Vietnam’s newest grandmaster Nguyen Anh Khoi who himself was assured of Bronze before the last round.
The situation was much less clear in a very competitive Rapid Chess Women when long time leader, Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Mai Hung was beaten by Singapore’s Gong Qianyun in the penultimate round.
As a result, the early leader, Indonesia’s Ummi Fisabillah and Gong went to the last round with 6.5/8 but with another Indonesian, Irene Kharismar Sukandar and Nguyen on 6/8 and very much still in medal contention.
In the end, it was Gong who won against Vietnam’s Pham Le Tao Nguyen to take Gold! Fisabillah and Sukandar told Silver and Bronze.