9-year-old prodigy stars for Vietnam at Asian youth chess tourney

By Hoang Nguyen   April 5, 2019 | 03:36 am PT
9-year-old prodigy stars for Vietnam at Asian youth chess tourney
Chess prodigy Pham Tran Gia Phuc. Photo acquired by VnExpress
A nine-year-old prodigy has done the star turn for Vietnam at the ongoing 2019 Asian Youth Chess Championship.

The Vietnamese contingent has so far won three gold, silver and bronze medals each.

They are currently standing in second place behind Kazakhstan.

Nine-year-old Pham Tran Gia Phuc, the Vietnamese chess prodigy, beat stronger opponents with higher Elo ratings (a standard measure for evaluating a player’s strength in chess) to win the gold medal.

Although Phuc (Elo 1486) is seeded eighth in the U10 boys’ category, he managed to defeat top seed, Indian Llamparthi AR (Elo 1795) and second seed Iranian Sina (Elo 1785).

With a total of six wins and one draw, he garnered 51 additional Elo points to his total rating.

Phuc made headlines after he won the U8 rapid chess tournament in Belarus in 2017. He also snatched the standard gold medal at 2017 Asian Youth Championship.

The other gold medals were won by Nguyen Quoc Hy, 13, and Nguyen Hong Anh, 17.

The silver medalists are Tran Dang Minh Quang and Nguyen Thien Ngan, both 14, and Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong, 16. The three bronze medalists are Ton Nu Quynh Duong, 11, Le Thai Nga, 16, and Ha Phuong Mai Hoang, 18.

The 2019 Asian Youth Chess Championship is being held in Kaluthara, Sri Lanka, from April 1 to 10.

There are 35 players representing Vietnam in this competition. In last year’s edition of the tournament, Vietnam won seven gold, 23 silver and 13 bronze medals to finish in second place behind India.

 
 
go to top