Chess

Đầu Khương Duy is one of Việt Nam's 15 masters at the FIDE World Cadet Championships from October 14-27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Photo of Lâm Minh Châu.

HÀ NỘI — Young Vietnamese chess masters will compete in the FIDE World Cadet Championships from October 14-27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The 15-strong contingent will compete in the U8, U10, and U12 age groups in the Open and Girls categories.

Among the competitors are Đầu Khương Duy, Tống Thái Hoàng Ân and Lê Phan Hoàng Quân who have made in their names locally and internationally.

Duy, 12, made a bang after winning a gold medal of the National Top Chess Master Championship in September. Earlier, he won a World Junior Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship's U12 title in June in Georgia.

He is the youngest Vietnamese player awarded a Candidate Master title last year aged 11.

He is No 5 seed in the Open U10 pool against FIDE Master Ethan Vaz of India, FM Hussain Besou of Germany, FM Khagan Ahmad from Azerbaijan and CM Aaron Reeve Mendes of Canada.

Ân is silver medallist of the Georgian world championship's U12 Girls category. She is not in the top 20 of the Girls' U12 and will have to checkmate No 1 seed Woman Candidate Master Diana Preobrazhenskaya who played under the flag of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), No 2 Wang Qinxuanyi of China and No 3 Rida Ruqayyah from England.

Quân is a rising star in the U8 class after he won five gold medals from the Southeast Asian Age Groups Chess Championship in June in Thailand.

Quân is seeded No 5 in the Open-8 class at the Egyptian event. His strong rivals will include WCM Romi Milner of the US, Shogdzhiev Roman off FIDE, Andre Tomas of Slovakia and Mueller Konstantin from Germany. VNS