Masters Vo Thi Kim Phuung (left) and Hoaang Thi Bao Tram seen competing at the 31st SEA Games in May in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA) This is the first time in 30 years that Vietnam will not have any malecompetitors in the Open Division as all of them, including Grandmaster Le QuangLiem who just triumphed at the Biel Grandmaster 2022 last week, are busy withpersonal reasons.
Five Vietnamese masters are Vo Thi Kim Phung, Hoang Thi Bao Tram, Nguyen Thi MaiHung, Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong and Nguyen Thien Ngan. No 1 player Pham Le ThaoNguyen, two-time winner at the recent 31st SEA Games, is also absent.
It is the second international tournament that Vietnamese masters are to takepart in.
At the 31st Games, Phung secured silver in the team rapid chess; Hung claimed abronze in the team blitz; and Tram and Hung pocketed their bronze individualstandard and rapid chess events, respectively.
Vietnam rank No 24 among 162 teams in the tournament's ranking based on theiraverage Elo rating (2,259). In the last Olympiad in 2018, they finished 15th.The winning team was China, Ukraine was second and Georgia was third.
This year, the top three seeding teams are hosts India (2,486), Ukraine (2,478)and Georgia (2,475).
The Open Group sees 187 teams with the USA bringing their powerful Grandmastersto be the No 1 title favourite (average Elo rating 2,771). India (2,696) issecond and Norway (2,692) is third.
Vietnam finished seventh in the 2018 edition. The winners were China, followedby the USA and Russia.
Players will compete in 11 standard chess matches, starting from Friday. Theywill have one day break after the first six games on August 4. The final roundand victory ceremonies will be held on August 10.
The 44th Olympiad hits the record with the highest number of participatingcountries and teams, breaking the record set at the 43rd event at Batumi,Georgia in 2018.
Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representingnations of the world compete. The first official Olympiad was held in 1927 inLondon with 16 countries. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online Chess Olympiadswere held in 2020 and 2021.
In other news, the Hanoi Chess Federation is hosting two international chessevents.
The first one is ongoing at the Hanoi Old Quarter Culture Exchange Centre untilJuly 30. The second one will be from August 1-5.
Athletes from the UK, India, Myanmar, Ukraine and Vietnam will compete in threedifferent categories of International Master, FIDE Master and Candidate Master.
At the tournaments which are recognised by the International Chess Federation(FIDE), athletes will receive their rating points to get their titles whilearbiters are recognised by international officials./.
VNA
