Vietnamese male team comes second in sixth round of Chess Olympiad 2024

The first match saw Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Elo 2.633, record a draw with Wei Yi, Elo 2.762, after 15 moves.

Le Tuan Minh, Elo 2.564, also drew with Yu Yangyi, Elo 2.703, following 52 moves.

Tran Tuan Minh, Elo 2.434, became the only Vietnamese representative at the tournament to lose during the match against Wang Yue, ranked eighth in the world and an Elo score of 2.637.

In the final match of the sixth round, Grandmaster Le Quang Liem, world No. 14 with an Elo score of 2.434, trounced Ding Liren, the world champion in 2023 with an Elo score of 2.800.

This comes after the Vietnamese men’s chess team defeated five teams from Liechtenstein, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan, as well as defending champion Uzbekistan and Poland. They ultimately placed in second position behind India among the 197 participating countries.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese women’s chess team ranked in 23rd after six rounds. Vietnam beat Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5 in the sixth round, with Thao Nguyen winning the only match, Thuy Duong recording a draw, and Kim Phung and Phuong Hanh losing two matches.

Moving forward, the Vietnamese male team will face Iran, whilst the female players will play against the Czech Republic in the seventh round.

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament which is open to players from all countries worldwide. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an online Chess Olympiad was held back in 2021.

This year the tournament is being held in Hungary, with the event featuring the participation of 197 teams in the men’s event and 180 teams in the women’s event. Players will compete in a Swiss-system style tournament over 11 matches until September 23.