The Asian Team Championship

A few weeks ago, in China and India Top-20, I looked at the top-20 players in the two powerhouse nations of Asian chess. How do they fare in head-to-head competition? While China routinely finishes well ahead of India at the biennial Olympiad, the results are closer at the Asian Team Championship.

Source: OlimpBase

Asian Team Chess Championship

In the last five events, the two countries have swapped the no.1 position, but looking at the individual events, we see that India only won in years where China did not participate. For example:-

• 16th Asian Team Championship: Kolkata 2009
• 17th Asian Team Championship: Zaozhuang 2012

Thanks to the detailed records maintained by OlimpBase, we can drill down to the records for individual countries in specific team competitions. Here are the team records for the Men's Asian Team Chess Championship.

• China, Team Record
• India, Team Record

Which Asian country is no.3? I would have expected to see the Philippines, but the chart above shows Vietnam as next in line for the last four competitions. It turns out that the Philippines hasn't competed since 1999. What's the story behind that?