2007 Asian Cities Chess Championship in Tehran
15.03.2007 – The brainchild of the Hong Kong Chess Federation, and dominated by the Chinese for over a decade, the Asian Cities Championship has migrated to the Middle East and is now dominated by Kazakhstan. This year's event, held from March 1–9 in Tehran, was won by Pavlodar, ahead of Tagaytay (Philippines) and Saipa (Iran). Arash Akbarinia reports.
The 2007 Asian Cities Chess Championship
Report from Tehran by Arash Akbarinia
The Asian Cities Chess Championship was the brainchild of the Hong Kong Chess Federation. It was first held in the former British Colony in 1979 (won by Singapore) and quickly found its place in the Asian chess world as an essential item in the annual chess calendar.
The first four editions took place in Hong Kong, with the participation of many strong cities from all over the continent. The 1980s were totally dominated by the Chinese, who won all five editions. There were no championships between 1985 to 1990. Since then the tournaments take place on a biennial basis.
During 1990s the United Arab Emirates hosted the Asian teams three times, and Malaysia was the host twice. Dhaka of Bangladesh was the surprise winner in 1990, and then Jakarta took the trophy twice. In 1996 the Uzbekistani capital Tashkent won the title, followed by Shijiazhuang in 1998, the fourth Chinese city to win the Championship.
In 2000 the games arrived on Lebanese soil (the first international team tournament in Lebanon) and Pavlodar from Kazakhstan won. They managed to defend the title next time in Yemen. In 2004 the event was awarded to the Philippines and it was also the first time when a Filipino city won. [Source: Asian Cities Championship History in OlimpBase]
Tehran is the capital and the largest city of Iran, with a population of more than ten million
The Iranian Chess Federation hosted the 2007 Asian Cities Chess Championship-Dubai Cup from March 1st to 9th, 2007. The system of play was a four board tournament according to the Swiss system, with each team having the right to field up to five players. The first city which wins the tournament three times will take the trophy home.
Tehran Eram Grand Hotel, venue of the tournament
Pavlodar of Kazakhstan was the favorite to win the tournament, followed by the defending champion Tagaytay of Philippines. The only other team which could possibly fight for the trophy was Saipa from Iran. The eighteen teams from twelve countries include ten GMs, two WGMs, twelve IMs and two WIMs from all over the Ancient Continent to heat up the tournament.
Finally after nine rounds, the two times winner of the cup, Pavlodar, had won the tournament for the third time; therefore they took the trophy to Kazakhstan forever. They did it quite convincingly, four points ahead of vice-champion Tagaytay. However in the face-to-face match, the Filipinos beat the Kazaks 2.5-1.5.
These gentlemen deserved the trophy; of the thirty-six individual games they lost just one!
The Silver Medal went to the Philippines. The boy who is seated at the far left is
13-year-old IM So Wesley, rated 2451, a student of IA Casto Abando
As was expected, after the top two seeds the strongest Iranian team, Saipa, took the bronze medal, followed up by the Iranian Super League Champion Rahahan of Tehran. The only women's team, Banvan-Tehran, surprisingly finished the tournament at the eighth place.
Bronze Medalist Saipa, the most successful Iranian team
From left to right: WGM Shadi Paridar, WIM Atousa Pourkashitan, WIM Shayesteh Ghaderpour, WFM Shirin Navabi. These ladies did a superb job thanks to their coach, Super GM Nigel Short (right)
Final rankings
| Rank | Team | Country | Pts. |
| 1 | Pavlodar | Kazakhstan | 30.0 |
| 2 | Tagaytay | Philippines | 26.0 |
| 3 | Saipa | Iran | 25.0 |
| 4 | Rahahan | Iran | 23.0 |
| 5 | Shanghai | China | 21.5 |
| 6 | Tidewater | Iran | 21.5 |
| 7 | Damascus | Syria | 17.5 |
| 8 | Banvan-Tehran | Iran | 17.5 |
| 9 | Dubai | Emirates | 16.5 |
| 10 | Sulimania | Iraq | 16.0 |
| 11 | Calicut | India | 15.5 |
| 12 | Lahore | Pakistan | 15.5 |
| 13 | Amman | Jordan | 15.0 |
| 14 | Sharjah | Emirates | 15.0 |
| 15 | Aleppo | Syria | 15.0 |
| 16 | Colombo | Sri Lanka | 15.0 |
| 17 | Erbil | Iraq | 12.0 |
| 18 | Jerusalem | Palestine | 6.5 |
For the first time in the history of this tournament, there were two types of medals on individual boards. First according to percentage and then according to the rating performance.
Board medals according to percentage
| Rank | Name | Team | % | gms | pts. |
Board 1 |
| 1 | GM Taleb Moussa | Dubai | 87.5 | 8 | 7.0 |
| 2 | GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | Saipa | 81.3 | 8 | 6.5 |
| 3 | GM Zhou Jianchao | Shanghai | 72.2 | 9 | 6.5 |
Board 2 |
| 1 | GM Vladimirov Evgeny | Pavlodar | 92.9 | 7 | 6.5 |
| 2 | FM Omearat Adel | Aleppo | 75.0 | 6 | 4.5 |
| 3 | WGM Paridar Shadi | Banvan | 75.0 | 6 | 4.5 |
Board 3 |
| 1 | IM So Wesley | Tagaytay | 83.3 | 9 | 7.5 |
| 2 | GM Kostenko Petr | Pavlodar | 83.3 | 9 | 7.5 |
| 3 | FM Jasim A R Saleh | Sharjah | 83.3 | 6 | 5.0 |
Board 4 |
| 1 | IM Dimakiling Oliver | Tagaytay | 83.3 | 9 | 7.5 |
| 2 | IM Rinat Jumabeav | Pavlodar | 83.3 | 6 | 5.0 |
| 3 | FM Hussein N A | Erbil | 78.6 | 7 | 5.5 |
Board 5 |
| 1 | Zozik Saleh | Sulimania 90.0 | 5 | 4.5 | |
| 2 | IM Ismagambetov An | Pavlodar | 85.7 | 7 | 6.0 |
| 3 | Sadeghi Adel | Tidewater 60.0 | 5 | 3.0 | |
Board Medals according to rating performance
| Rank | Name | Team | Rp |
Board 1 |
| Gold | GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | Saipa | 2643 |
| Silver | GM Zhou Jianchao | Shanghai | 2536 |
| Bronze | GM Kotsur Pavel | | Pavlodar 2475 |
Board 2 |
| Gold | GM Vladimirov Evgeny | Pavlodar | 2809 |
| Silver | GM Antonio Rogelio Jr | Tagaytay | 2553 |
| Bronze | FM Darban Morteza | Tidewater | 2469 |
Board 3 |
| Gold | IM So Wesley | Tagaytay | 2623 |
| Silver | GM Kostenko Petr | Pavlodar | 2578 |
| Bronze | IM Ghane Shojaat | Rahahan | 2446 |
Board 4 |
| Gold | IM Rinat Jumabeav | Pavlodar | 2570 |
| Silver | IM Dimakiling Oliver | Tagaytay | 2529 |
| Bronze | IM Mallahi Amir | Saipa | 2413 |
Board 5 |
| Gold | IM Ismagambetov An | Pavlodar | 2584 |