Vietnamese junior chess masters bag golds at world championships

Dau Khuong Duy wins Vietnam's gold medal in the boys' U12 rapid chess at the ongoing World Under 8-18 Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2023 in Batumi, Georgia

Undefeated Dau Khuong Duy topped the boys' U12 rapid chess event after earning 10.5 points from 10 wins and one draw in 11 matches.

Temirbekov Taimaz of Dagestan came second with nine points, followed by Tyhran Ambartsumian of Armenia with 8.5.

The second Vietnamese world champion was Le Thai Hoang Anh in the girls' U12 rapid chess.

Le Thai Hoang Anh tops the girls' U12 rapid chess at the Batumi world tournament

Despite being seeded No. 17, Ánh has an impressive performance with 10 wins and one loss to have 10 points for the top position. She left behind Aiaru Altynbek of Kazakhstan and No. 1 seed Diana Preobrazhenskaya of Russia.

The third one was Pham Tran Gia Phuc in the boys' U14 rapid chess. He came back from poor results in early matches to get consecutive wins in the later half of the tournament. With 9.5 points after 11 matches, Phuc secured his first world crown.

His teammate, Dinh Nho Kiet, finished second with 8.5 and Savva Vetokhin of Russia was third with 7.5.

The Vietnamese team also took one silver by Nguyen Hong Nhung in the girls' U18 rapid and one bronze by Nguyen Nhat Khuong in the boys' U8 rapid chess.

The team led the medal tally after the rapid event. Blitz chess will follow on June 10-11.

The world championship, which will end on June 12, lures more than 460 masters from 35 countries and territories, competing in the age groups from U8 to U18 for boys and girls.

Vietnam sent a team of 13 masters to checkmate in seven categories.

VNS