Vietnamese chess talent wins silver at world youth tournament

When the tournament concluded in Romania Friday, there were three players in the U16 event that got 8.5 points: Davaakhuu Munkhzul (Mongolia), Matchteld Van Foreest (Netherlands) and Nhung. The organizers had to determine the gold medalist based on the other stats.

The first stat is head-to-head index. Nhung, 16, won against Munkhzul but did not play Foreest, who drew against Munkhzul. Therefore, this index was invalid.

The second stat was taken into account, which is the Buchholz coefficient. Each player will be given a raw score of one point for each win and half a point for each draw. The Buchhloz coefficient is calculated by adding the raw scores of each opponent played and multiplying this total by the player’s raw score.

Munkhzul, who had the highest Buchholz coefficient, won the gold medal, while Nhung finished second and Foreest third.

The last round on Friday was intense, as Munkhzul and Nhung both got 8 points. Nhung played white but failed to beat Russia’s Galina Mikheeva, while Foreest won her game to get 8.5 points like Nhung. In the remaining match, Munkhzul was able to draw against Ukraine’s Anastasiia Dubovyk to level the points with the other two and won gold.

This tournament helped Nhung gain 174 Elo points, with her current Elo rating at 2,024.

Vietnam entered 2022 World Youth Championship (Sept. 6 to 16) with nine players, but only Nhung brought home a medal.