Vietnam's No 1 chess player Le Quang Liem opened his campaign at the 4th HDBank International Open Chess Tournament with a facile victory over Borsos Bogdan of Ukraine in Ho Chi Minh City on March 10.

His teammates stumbled in other matches, with Tu Hoang Thong and Dao Thien Hai losing to Liu Xiangyi and Tin Jingyao of Singapore; and Nguyen Sy Hung losing to Yap Kim Steven of the Philippines.

The 9-round tournament, set to wrap up on March 16, will offer 35,000 USD in prizes. The top winner will earn 12,000 USD.

Winners of previous editions, Le Quang Liem (3rd edition) and Ni Hua of China (2nd edition), are seeded one and two in a field of 80 players from 16 countries and territories including China, India, the Philippines and Russia.-VNA