Vietnam secures three golds at Asian Youth Chess Championship

ABO/NDO – The Vietnamese contingent has concluded the rapid event at the ongoing 2019 Asian Youth Chess Championship in commanding style, claiming three medals of each colour and temporarily standing in second place one gold medal behind Kazakhstan.

Vietnamese chess star Pham Tran Gia Phuc wins the boys' U10 rapid event at the 2019 Asian Youth Championship in Sri Lanka.

Despite being seeded only eighth in the boys’ U10 category, Vietnamese chess prodigy Pham Tran Gia Phuc (Elo 1486) produced surprise fifth-round and seventh-round wins over top seed Llamparthi A R (India, Elo 1795) and second seed Sina (Iran, Elo 1785), respectively, to snatch the overall title.

Phuc obtained an amazing score of 6.5 following his six wins and one draw, thus accumulating 51 additional Elo points.

He is expected to continue his impressive form in the upcoming blitz and standard chess competitions.

Phuc became well-known to everyone after he was crowned the world U8 rapid chess champion in Belarus two years ago. Earlier, he had brilliantly claimed the standard gold medal at the 2017 Asian Youth Championship. These prominent achievements helped him win the “most favoured athlete” category at the Victory Cup Award the same year.

In addition to Phuc’s excellence, Vietnam pocketed two more gold medals thanks to Nguyen Quoc Hy in the boys’ U14 age group, and Nguyen Hong Anh in the girls’ U18 category.

The Vietnamese silver medalists included Tran Dang Minh Quang (boys’ U14), Nguyen Thien Ngan (girls’ U14) and Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong (girls’ U16), while the three bronze medals went to Ton Nu Quynh Duong (girls’ U12), Le Thai Nga (girls’ U16) and Ha Phuong Mai Hoang (girls’ U18).

Vietnam is being represented by 35 players at the 2019 Asian Youth Chess Championship.

The 2019 Asian Youth Chess Championship is taking place in Kaluthara, Sri Lanka, from April 1 to 10, with Vietnam represented by 35 players. In last year’s tournament, the Vietnamese delegation won a total of seven gold, 23 silver and 13 bronze medals, finishing in second place overall behind India.

(Source: NDO)