Vietnam beat Chile in Chess Olympiad

Playing Chile, a weaker opponent, Vietnam easily claimed victory after losing to Poland the day before. Vo Thi Kim Phung, Hoang Thi Bao Tram and Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong won while the youngest in the team Nguyen Thien Ngan lost.

Phung’s victory was impressive. As the game neared a draw by the end, Phuong put pressure on her opponent Gomez Barrera, causing her to make a mistake and accept defeat after 51 games.

Playing white like Phung, Duong defeated Jara Reyes at the end game. She’s the only unbeaten player of Vietnam with three wins and one draw, which earned her 12 more Elo.

Tram had a tougher match than the other two as she didn’t have a good start and let Morales Flores take the advantage. However, Flores didn’t know how to use that advantage and let Tram hit back to win the game.

The only defeat of Vietnam in this round, Ngan, lost to Toro Pradenas.

After four rounds, only eight teams in the women’s group won all matchups and got eight points. Vietnam are 38th out of 162 women’s teams with six points.

2022 Chess Olympiad takes place from July 29 to Aug. 9 in Chennai, India, featuring 1,736 players from 186 countries and territories. This is considered the Olympics of chess and one of the biggest competitions in the sport.

Vietnam didn’t send the men’s team to this tournament since its top players are all busy.