Vietnamese chess masters secure three World Cup berths

The Zone 3.3 qualifying round of the 2015 World Chess Championships concluded in Ho Chi Minh City on March 15 seeing Vietnamese representatives – two male and one female – secure all three zonal tickets to compete in the upcoming World Cup 2015.

Vietnamese chess players saw resounding victories at the Zone 3.3 qualifying round.

Vietnamese top seed Le Quang Liem (Elo 2676) took top honour in the Open category with 7.5 points, which gifted him a cash prize of US$2,000 and one of the two zonal World Cup berths for male players.

The remaining World Cup slot of the Open section went to GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Elo 2659), who beat Eugenio Torre of the Philippines in the last round on Sunday to rank second overall with seven points. As the runner-up, Son was awarded US$1,500 in prize money.

IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen (Elo 2338) won the sole berth for women players in Zone 3.3 to compete in the chess world cup after claiming the championship title of the women’s qualification with 7.5 points.

Alongside the three World Cup tickets, three Vietnamese players also had bonus Elo ratings added to their FIDE accumulation, with Quang Liem receiving 8.5 Elo points, Truong Son earning 2.8 and Thao Nguyen gaining 17.5.

The Zone 3.3 qualifying round also saw the impressive performance of Vietnamese prodigy Nguyen Anh Khoi. The 13-year-old, seeded 35th in the Open section with an Elo rating of 2,239, overcame many older players to accumulate 66 Elo points.

The zonal qualification took place from March 6 to 15, with the participation of 44 male and 20 female players representing seven countries in the region. Players competed in a nine-round Swiss system for three official berths (two for male and one for female players) at the finals of the Chess World Cup 2015, slated for September 10 to October 4 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)