Master Nguyễn Anh Khôi of Việt Nam. Photo courtesy of HDBank

HCM CITY – Young masters Nguyễn Anh Khôi and Trần Tuấn Minh took big step in the ranking of the HDBank Cup International Open Chess 2016 Masters Tournament.

The two Vietnamese registered an impressive performance yesterday winning the sixth round matches at Đệ Nhất Hotel in HCM City.

The 13-year-old Khôi, the former U12 world champions, successfully tied with former national No 1 and his coach Đào Thiên Hải after 30 moves and jumped to No 14 in the ranking.

His teammate Minh did a better job, being placed at fifth, after beating Võ Thành Ninh in an all-Vietnamese match. 

Minh, all of 19, with 4.5 points has the best ranking among all local masters after six rounds.

The top hope of Việt Nam, Grandmaster Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn who is seeded No 4 here, is at No 6 with four points. Yesterday, he lost to No 1 seed Wang Hao of China, who is firmly at the top position with 5.5 points.

Zhao Jun, also of China, has the same points but ranks second. He is followed by Viktor Laznicka of Czech Republic, on five points.

In the next round today, the highlight will be clashes between Khôi and Russian Anton Shomoev, and Minh versus No 2 seed Ni Hua from China.

GM Sơn will have the chance to go further when he meets with IM Lê Tuấn Minh next round.

In the women’s category, Việt Nam No 1 Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên drew with Singapore’s U16 player Tin Jingyao. Nguyên who has 3.5 points to top the group will next play countryman Từ Hoàng Thông. Li Roufan of Singapore and Chinese Zhou Guijue are second and third, respectively.

In the Challenger Tournament, eight masters from Việt Nam are in the top 10.

Phạm Minh Hiếu is in the lead with six points, followed by teammate Lê Thành Tài.

The only two foreign players in this group are Martin Gaticales in third place and Ting Marvin in the tenth position, both of the Philippines. – VNS