HCM CITY — The 9th HD Bank International Chess Tournament 2019 featuring a record number of participants and bonus awards will be held from March 6-13 in HCM City.

A total of more than 300 master chess players from 27 countries and territories have registered to take part in the competition, which offers total prizes of US$60,000, an increase of about US$5,000 compared to last year.

As many as 148 participants will compete in the Master’s category for athletes who have Elo ratings (a standard measure for evaluating a player’s strength) of 2,100 for men and 2,000 for women, reflecting their world-class abilities. The rest will take part in the Challenger’s discipline.

Việt Nam, as the host, has sent its best roster, including 161 players, to the tournament which will be held at the Rex Hotel on 114 Nguyễn Huệ Street in HCM City’s District 1.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Lê Thành Trung, deputy general director of HD Bank and deputy president of the Việt Nam Chess Federation, said: “The HDBank event is the biggest professional chess tournament in Việt Nam and Southeast Asia. As an official competition in the world chess federation’s (FIDE) system, it lures the attention of not only high quality masters but also chess lovers.”

Players will play nine matches. The winner of the Master’s pool will win $16,000 while the Challengers champion will bag $1,200.

“Chess is a special sport, a sport of the mind. HDBank wants to make it more popular among the public and to support players in their career. I hope that in the future we can invite more sponsors to the event so the event will be able to attract the participation of the world’s leading masters,” said Trung, who is also deputy general director of HDBank.

Chess lovers can find more information for the event at www.chess.hdbank.com.vn  and www.vietnamchess.vn . Matches are broadcast online through www.livegame.vietnamchess.vn. — VNS