Vietnam’s chess prodigy wins Asian junior rapid gold

Vietnam’s chess prodigy, Nguyen Anh Khoi, continued to display brilliant form at international youth competitions, as he clinched the rapid chess gold medal with one game to spare at the ongoing Asian Junior (Open and Girls) Chess Championship 2019 in Indonesia.

Vietnamese chess ace Nguyen Anh Khoi is demonstrating exceptional form at international youth competition.
Vietnamese chess ace Nguyen Anh Khoi is demonstrating exceptional form at international youth competition.

Fourth-seeded Anh Khoi (Elo 2168) finished victorious in the first six games, prominently his fifth-round triumph against Indonesian top seed Priasmoro Novendra (Elo 2263).

Such exceptional results allowed the Vietnamese star to be crowned champion despite still having one game in hand. In the last round, Anh Khoi managed to play out a quick draw with Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari of India (Elo 2093), thus claiming the title with 6.5 points after seven games overall.

The victory helped to add 30 Elo points to Khoi’s FIDE world rating in the rapid category.

Earlier last month, the Ho Chi Minh City-born player brought home two individual and two team gold medals in the U20 age division at the 2019 ASEAN Age-Group Chess Championships in Mandalay, Myanmar.

After the rapid chess discipline, Anh Khoi will enter the standard chess competition as the top seed with an Elo rating of 2516.

The Asian Junior (Open and Girls) Chess Championship 2019 is taking place in Solo, Indonesia from July 1 to 8, featuring three categories of rapid, blitz and standard chess. The eight-day tournament has brought together 34 males and 36 females from 11 delegations, namely Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Vietnam is being represented by four players, including Nguyen Anh Khoi, Nguyen Dang Hong Phuc, Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien, and Nguyen Hong Ngoc.