Vietnam falls flat at international online chess contest

While Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Elo 2,630) won and Le Quang Liem (2,744) drew, the remaining four Vietnamese players lost to their Chinese opponents. The final score came to 1.5-4.5, with victory awarded to China.

Although the result may not fully reflect conditions on the board, Vietnamese players made several decisive mistakes.

Besides, Vietnam lost to Iran 2-4. Only Hoang Thi Bao Tram (2,322) managed a win, with the rest drawing or losing outright.

In their last matchup, the crew beat Zimbabwe 6-0, but still placed ninth out of 10 in group A.

On the first day of the top division competition on Friday, Vietnam had won against Mongolia and Georgia, but lost to India. The next day saw the team disintegrate against Uzbekistan, Germany and Indonesia.

China, India and Germany, the top three group teams, will advance to the playoffs.

Before entering the competition, Vietnam was seeded fourth with an average Elo rating of 2,359, right behind China, India and Germany.

The top division event is divided into four groups with 10 teams each. The top three teams from each group qualify for the playoffs that will take place from August 27 to 30. Each individual matchup consists of two games. Playoffs commonly include a preliminary round, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

Players compete in the form of rapid chess with each having only 15 minutes per move, plus five seconds additional time.