Five Vietnamese enter youth chess world cup semifinals

Five out of eight Vietnamese made it past the quarterfinals. They are Dau Khuong Duy, Dinh Nho Kiet, An Dinh Minh, Nguyen Hong Nhung and Vu Bui Thi Thanh Van.

The remaining three lost their armageddon matches though had given it their all.

Among 40 players in the semifinals, Russia have the most with eight, followed by Vietnam, the U.S. and India with five each.

The semifinals will take place on Saturday night. Duy will face the number one seed Yagiz Khan Erdogmus of Turkey. Kiet will play Russia’s Savva Vetokhin. Minh will go head to head with American-Vietnamese Bach Ngo. Nhung will clash with Sim Jia Ru of Malaysia, while Van plays Xeniya Balabayeva of Kazakhstan.

FIDE Online Rapid World Cup Cadets & Youth is a two-stage tournament with five different age groups – under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and two sections - open and girls (totaling 10 tournaments). Participants must not have reached their 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, or 18th birthdays, respectively, before Jan. 1, 2021.

The qualifying stage took place between Aug. 1 to 20, while the final stage is played from Aug. 26 to 31.

The duration for each game is 15 minutes, plus a 10-second increment per move.

The top three finishers in each category will qualify for FIDE Online Rapid Super Final 2021, which has a prize pool of $30,000.

Players who have been eliminated in the quarterfinals will be invited to play the FIDE Online Rapid Grand Prix Series 2021.