Vietnam racks up four gold medals at Asian Youth Online Chess Championship

Vietnam’s chess team wrapped up their campaign at the 2021 Asian Youth Online Chess Championship in style smashing four gold medals in various Boys and Girls age groups to settle for second place overall, just behind the Indian delegation. The Boys section that concluded on October 31 saw Vietnam sweep three of the six titles in total thanks to Tran Duc Duy (U8), Nguyen Quang Minh (U10) and Nguyen Huynh Minh Thien (U18).

Nguyen Huynh Minh Thien wins the Boys U18 gold medal at the 2021 Asian Youth Online Chess Championship.
Nguyen Huynh Minh Thien wins the Boys U18 gold medal at the 2021 Asian Youth Online Chess Championship.

Duc Duy scored eight wins out of nine games to take the top honour. He finished level with Danis Kuandykuly (Kazakhstan) on eight points but was ruled as the champion due to having more wins.

Quang Minh was even invincible with eight wins and one draw, beating the Iranian runner-up Barad Yeganegi by half a point.

Minh Thien also finished supreme on eight points following an unbeaten run of seven wins and two draws, 1.5 points above second-placed Alireza Bosagh Zadeh (Iran).

The remaining three gold medals of the Boys division went to India (U14, U16) and China (U12).

Earlier, Vietnam clinched their opening gold in the Girls section as Nguyen Linh Dan took top spot in the U14 competition with 7.5 points (seven wins, one draw, one loss). Her teammate Nguyen Le Cam Hien sealed a silver in the same category following six wins and three draws.

Vietnamese chess player Nguyen Linh Dan.

Overall, the Vietnamese team stood second in the medal table with four golds and one silver medal, while India topped the Asian championship with a collection of four golds, four silvers and seven bronzes. Kazakhstan came in third place with two golds and three silvers.

The 2021 Asian Youth Online Chess Championship featured the under-8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 tournaments which were played online from October 21-24 for the Girls and from October 28-31 for the Boys.