Argentinian player wins HDBank int’l open chess tournament

Argentinian Grandmaster Mareco Sandro put in a brilliant performance to beat his country fellowman, Krysa Leandro, after 41 moves in the last round of the HDBank International Open Chess Tournament 2018 in Hanoi on March 15, to claim the overall crown of the Masters category with a total of 7.5 points.

Argentinian Mareco Sandro takes top honour of the 2018 HDBank international chess tournament.
Argentinian Mareco Sandro takes top honour of the 2018 HDBank international chess tournament.

>>> HDBank int’l chess tournament kicks off in Hanoi

After a slow start of only one win and two draws in the first three matches, Sandro (Elo 2,635) then scored four consecutive victories in order to break into the leading group after the seventh round of play.

The no. 4 seed failed to maintain his winning streak following an eighth-round tie with Vietnam’s Le Tuan Minh (Elo 2,489); however, a ninth-round triumph helped the Argentinian player to lift the championship trophy in a convincing fashion.

Last year, Mareco Sandro also participated in the HDBank chess competition, but ended up in eighth place overall, with just half a point less than the Vietnamese champion, Super Grandmaster Le Quang Liem.

Le Tuan Minh is the best Vietnamese performer in this year's tournament.

Le Tuan Minh played out an unexpected draw against Indian Karthikeyan Murali (Elo 2,592) within 49 moves in the last round, thus finishing in the runner-up group, together with Karthikeyan Murali and Pichot Alan (Argentina), on seven points after nine matches. Despite missing out on the title, Tuan Minh still deserved praise, as he excelled beyond expectations to become the best Vietnamese performer throughout the tournament.

Vietnam's chess ace Le Quang Liem fails to defend his championship title.

Meanwhile, the no.1 seed, Le Quang Liem (Elo 2,736), joined two Chinese competitors, second-seeded Wang Hao (Elo 2,713) and Wen Yang (Elo 2,608), in the third group with 6.5 points each.

The women’s crown went to Saduakassova Dinara of Kazakhstan (Elo 2,479), who defeated Spaniard Vega Marcos (Elo 2,430) in the last round to overcome Chinese Lei Tingjie (Elo 2.545) and secure the mantle of best female performer in this year’s competition.

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