Tania Sachdev Is Asian Champion
By Arvind Aaron

Tania Sachdev of Delhi won the 12th Asian Women's Chess Championship when she completed the feat at Tehran on Sep 11. Her earlier best was winning the Indian title at Chennai last December.

Needing a draw in the final round for title, Tania made the draw with the black pieces to reach an unbeatable 6.5 score. Ruan Lufei tied for first place with a win but has the lower tie-break score and finished second.

Nisha Mohota scored a last round win beating a Chinese player to finish fourth with six points.

The results (round nine): Ju Wenjun (Chn) drew Tania Sachdev (Ind), Nisha Mohota (Ind) bt Tan Zhongyi (Chn), Ruan Lufei (Chn) bt Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri), Eesha Karavade (Ind) bt Wang Yu (Chn), Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) lost to Le Kieu Thien Kim (Vie), Bich Ngoc Pham (Vie) drew Swati Ghate (Ind), Knarik Mouradian (Kgz) bt Amruta Mokal (Ind).

Final placings: 1-2 Tania Sachdev (Ind), Ruan Lufei (Chn) 6.5/9 each, 3-5 Nguyen Thi Thanh An (Vie), Nisha Mohota (Ind), Le Thanh Tu (Vie) 6 each, 12 Eesha Karavade (Ind) 5, 19 Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 4, 21 Swati Ghate (Ind) 4, 28 Amruta Mokal (Ind) 3...32 players.