Vietnam takes gold in rapid chess

Vietnamese players snatched gold in both the men's and women's rapid event.  GM Le Quang Liem won his second gold and WGM Nguyenn Pham Le Thao  won the women's event. Indonesia had a silver through the surprising FM Hamdani Rudin. GM  Nguyen Ngoc Truong Song took the bronze.

Truong Song needed to win the last game against the lower rated FM Kasmiran. Surprisingly the position reached a Q+B versus Q+B where the Vietnamese could not avoid perpetual check. Since he already had the bronze , he continued to play on and ended up losing a bishop ending.

The following position was reached in GM Barbosa Oliver against Sumant Subramaniam in the final round. Sumant was not having a good tournament and has lost a pawn. However some resourceful play and time pressure and we have the diagram

GM Barbosa - Sumant Subramaniam

Subramaniam shocked his opponent with 1....h4! 

White cannot take the pawn e.g 2.Rxh4?? Rxf2! 3. Kxf2 Rd2+ 4. Kf1 Qf5+ 5. Rf4 Qd3+ 6. Kg1 Qxe3+ 7. Kf1 Bg2 mate



2. Qa1+ f6 3. c5

Barbosa very short on time could not put up any defence.

3....hxg3 4. f3 Rh2

Sets a trap. 5. Rg4?? Qxg4 6. fxg4 Rh1 mate

5. R1c4 R7d2

Black is winning though Sumant has missed a quicker mate. 5...Rh1+!! 6. Kxh1 Qh5+ 7. Rh4 (7. Kg1 Qh2+ Kf1 Qf2 mates) Qxf3+ and mates

6. Qf1 Rh1+! 0-1