China claims title at FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup

BEIJING - A 2-2 draw against the United States in the Superfinal of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup was enough to secure China the title after a superb round-robin stage by team China.

Ding Liren and four-time women's chess world champion Hou Yifan drew against Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush. Wei Yi lost to Fabiano Caruana while Yu Yangyi contributed the decisive victory against Wesley So to tie the match. According to the rules, the team with the best performance in the round-robin stage would be classified as champions in the final if the result is a tie.

In the 10 games he played, China's third board Yu Yangyi scored 7.5 points (six victories, three draws, one loss) and was the best performer of the team. The MVP of the tournament goes to American Fabiano Caruana with an unbeaten record in nine games (six victories, three draws).

"I can feel the blood boiling even if this is an online tournament, congratulations to ourselves for winning the title," Ding wrote on his social media account.

The new "match of the century" is played by six teams, including Russia, the US, Europe, China, India, plus a team representing the "Rest of the World." The tournament kicked off on May 5, 10 rounds of games ran from May 5 to 9 to decide two top teams in the Superfinal.

As the winner of a historic double gold in the last Chess Olympiad, China is the top-seed of the tournament. The team is consisted of Ding Liren, Wang Hao, Wei Yi, Hou Yifan, Yu Yangyi, Ju Wenjun and led by Captain Ye Jiangchuan.

China secured the Superfinal berth after just eight rounds before finishing the round-robin stage with eight victories, one draw and one loss. The US surpassed Europe in the last round while Russia, India and the Rest of the World ranking fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.