Chinese Championship 2022: Dai Changren and Tan Zhongyi win titles

Dai Changren and Tan Zhongyi are the new champions of China. The 2022 Chinese Championship took place in Xinghua, Jiangsu province, from November 2-11 and was held in open and women’s sections. Both tournaments were 12-player round robins with classical time control.

In the absence of top Chinese players, the open event caused a minor sensation as the #10 in the starting list Dai Changren (pictured below), scored 7/11 and finished clear first, a half point ahead of Zhao Jun (6½/11), who took silver.

Two players tied for third place, with Xu Xiangyu claiming bronze thanks to better Sonneborn-Berger over Li Di. The event was a very close competition, with neither player completing the tournament unbeaten.

Final standings:

1 IM Dai Changren 2515 7
2 GM Zhao Jun 2600 6½
3 GM Xu Xiangyu 2577 6
4 GM Li Di 2539 6
5 IM Lou Yiping 2490 5½
6 GM Liu Yan 2532 5½
7 GM Xu Yi 2502 5½
8 GM Lu Shanglei 2605 5½
9 GM Bai Jinshi 2569 5½
10 GM Xu Yinglun 2553 5
11 GM Zeng, Chongsheng 2604 4
12 IM Xu Zhixing 2504 4

The women’s event was quite a different scenario as the rating-favourite Tan Zhongyi (pictured below) dominated the field. Despite losing to Xiao Yiyi, she netted an impressive 9/11 and came out on top 1½ ahead of her main competitor who claimed silver. It is the second national title in her career.

There was a tie for third place in the women’s competition as well, with Guo Qi edging out Zhai Mo by dint of slightly better tiebreaks.

Final standings:

1 GM Tan Zhongyi 2514 9
2 WGM Xiao Yiyi 2326 7½
3 IM Guo Qi 2391 7
4 WGM Zhai Mo 2371 7
5 WIM Song Yuxin 2311 6½
6 WGM Ni Shiqun 2370 5
7 Zhang Lanlin 2200 5
4 WGM Li Xueyi 2297 4½
9 IM Wang Yu 2276 4½
10 WIM Chu Ruotong 2224 4
11 WIM Ren Xiaoyi 2207 3½
12 Yuan Ye 2086 2½

Photo: official website

Official website: cca.imsa.cn/

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