Vietnam enjoys strong start to Chess Olympiad 2024

On September 15, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Elo 2.633, and Le Tuan Minh, Elo 2.564, trounced Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Elo 2.681, and Mateusz Bartel, Elo 2.618.

Grandmaster Le Quang Liem, world No. 14 with an Elo score of 2.434, recorded a draw against Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland, Elo 2.750.

Tran Tuan Minh, Elo 2.434, was the only Vietnamese representative at the tournament to lose in a match against Szymon Gumularz of Poland, Elo 2.571.

Furthermore, the Vietnamese men’s chess team defeated five teams from Liechtenstein, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan, as well as defending champion Uzbekistan and Poland. They were placed in third position behind India and China.

Moving forward, Vietnam will face China in the upcoming matches. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese women’s chess team ranked 22nd with eight points after five rounds. Vietnam beat Montenegro 3-1 in the fifth round, with Kim Phung, Phuong Hanh, and Thuy Duong all winning their matches.

However, Thao Nguyen, Elo 2.380, surprisingly lost to Alexandra Zherebtsova, Elo 2.239. Moving forward, Vietnam will play against Azerbaijan in the sixth round of the competition.

Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament which is open to players of 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, featuring the participation of 190 teams in the men’s event and 180 teams in the women’s event. Players will compete in the Swiss-system tournament's 11 matches until September 23.