Vietnamese, Chinese players share top place at chess tourney hinh anh 1IM Tran Tuan Minh is one of two leaders at the HDBank Cup International Open Chess after three rounds in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)
 
Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese International Master (IM) Tran Tuan Minh is the surprise leader of the HDBank Cup International Open Chess after three rounds in HCM City.

Minh won all three of his matches and shares top spot with Grandmaster (GM) Wang Hao of China in the Masters Category.

Minh beat Russian IM Diu Viacheslav on March 13.

Wang, No 5 seed, defeated IM Shyaam Nikhil of India to have three points.

Third position went to Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi who has 2.5 points.

Vietnamese top GM Le Quang Liem on March 13 unexpectedly drew with teammate IM Le Tuan Minh and is down to No 4.

No 1 seed Wei Yi won but is still far away from top 10. He is currently at 19, with two points.
 
In the next round, Minh will play Wang, Liem will face his teammate IM Nguyen Anh Khoi, Bu will meet GM Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam and Wei will take on IM Vo Thanh Ninh of the hosts.

In the Challengers category, Nguyen Huynh Tuan Hai of Vietnam leads with three points. He is followed by Pham Minh Hieu and Women’s Grandmaster Nguyen Thi Thuy Trien.-VNA
VNA