Four Vietnamese female chess masters will take part in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo nld.com.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - The strongest Vietnamese masters are taking part in the 2017 King Salman World Rapid and Blitz ChessChampionships that begins on December 26 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The final world tournament of the year sees more than 180masters in the open category and 150 others in the women’s class at the iconicApex Convention Centre. All the players are rated at least 2,600 for the openand 2,300 for the women’s class in any of the FIDE rating lists.
Vietnamese top grandmaster (GM) Le Quang Liem and teammatesGM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son will compete in open while GM Hoang Thi Bao Tram and threeinternational masters, Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Vo Kim Phung,are in the women’s pool.
Liem is the most hopeful member of the Vietnamese side as hewon the World Blitz title in 2013. He brought home a bronze medal from theInternational Mind Sports Association Elite Games in China two weeks ago.
Asian champion Phung is expected to continue her outstandingperformance in Riyadh. Earlier this month, Phung topped the women’s disciplineat the London Chess Classic.
Magnus Carlsen (Norway), the highest-rated chess player inthe world and world champion in classical chess, will compete here.
The incumbent World Rapid and Blitz Champions — SergeyKarjakin (Russia) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) — have confirmed theirparticipation, making the five-day championships the strongest open event ofthe year.
Notable entries include World No 2 Levon Aronian of Armeniaand No 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, former champion Viswanathan Anandof India and a record-breaking level of grandmasters from over 40 countries.
According to the coach, Lam Minh Chau, the tournament wouldbe a competitive one due to the presence of world’s best players. Carlsen,Karjakin and Ivanchuk are the title favourites but there could be a challengefrom Mamedyarov, Aronian and No 6 Wesley So of the United States.
The games and official ceremonies will be broadcasted onlinewith expert grandmaster commentary.
The rapid event will be organised in three days and consistsof 15 rounds, followed by the two-day blitz tournament with 21 rounds.
A huge prize fund of 2 million USD, split 1.5 million USD forthe two men’s events and 0.5 million USD for the women’s, dwarfs previouscontests.
For the first time in a sporting event in Saudi Arabia, womenwill not be required to play with a hijab or an abaya as a head covering.-VNA
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