Women's chess team mates Czechs

Viet Nam's female chess team have trounced the Czech Republic 3-1 in the sixth round of the ongoing World Chess Olympiad in Turkey.

In the first match, Pham Le Thao Nguyen, who is 71st in the latest world ranking of the World Chess Federation with an Elo rating of 2393, was held to a draw by arch rival Katerina Nemcova but her team-mates Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, world junior No 33 and Le Kieu Thien Kim outdid two stronger opponents Kristyna Havlikova and Tereza Olsarova.

Hoang Thi Nhu Y, world junior No 40 had a draw with Karolina Olsarova in the final match.

With this win, the team climbed to seventh place with 16.5 points in the Olympiad's rankings and will face players from Serbia in the seventh round.

Meanwhile, the men's team was held to a 2-2 draw by underdog Egypt when all of its Grand Masters, namely Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Dao Thien Hai, Nguyen Duc Hoa and Nguyen Van Huy, failed to beat their much weaker opponents.

The team, who ranked 31st will meet hosts Turkey in the next round.-VNS