HÀ NỘI — Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên achieved the best result of the Vietnamese masters in the 2017 King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

Nguyên ranked third in the first five matches, with four points after three wins and two draws, in the women’s category. In the first two games, Thảo had no difficulty beating Enkhtuul Altan-Ulzii from Mongolia and Doluhanova Evgeniya of Ukraine.

She then successfully drew No. 5 seed Grandmaster (GM) Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia and No. 12 GM Harika Dronavalli of India in the third and fifth games, respectively.

Her best result is a win over Armenian GM Elina Danielian, No. 10, after 52 moves.

Among the other female masters, Hoàng Thị Bảo Trâm has three points, Asian champion Võ Thị Kim Phụng won 2.5 points and Nguyễn Thị Mai Hưng earned 1.5 points.

The top two players are Chinese GM Ju Wenjun (with five points) and GM Bela Khotenashvili of Georgia (with four points).

In the Open pool, former world blitz chess champion Lê Quang Liêm recorded only three points after two wins, two draws and one loss. He ranks No. 56.

His teammate, Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn, is at No. 83, with 2.5 points.

The three leading athletes are Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev (4.5 points), Baadur Jobava of Georgia (4.5 points) and Alexander Gischuk from Russia (four points). — VNS