Vietnam beats reigning European champion at Chess Olympiad

Vietnam are flying high in the women's group with three consecutive wins, this time against reigning European women's team champions Bulgaria in round 9 on September 20. The women's team fell behind, when Luong Phuong Hanh (Elo 2,225) held the black pieces and lost to Viktoria Radeva (2,296), while Vo Thi Kim Phung (2,320) drew with Nurgyul Salimova (2,412).

But in the remaining two tables, Pham Le Thao Nguyen (2,380) and Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong (2,214) defeated former chess queen Antoaneta Stefanova (2,416) and Beloslava Krasteva (2,295), the result was enough for Vietnam to win 2.5-1.5.

Thuy Duong continued to soar at the 2024 Chess Olympiad, as she remained undefeated, winning six and drawing two of the eight games she played, achieving a performance of 2.366. In the match against the 21-year-old player, she won the opening game and captured the suit advantage, but let her opponent equalize the game.

Thuy Duong then decided to sacrifice her material to regain the advantage, before taking the upper hand after exchanging queens. Both sides entered the endgame with rooks and pawns evenly balanced, but the advantage in space and piece position helped the Vietnamese representative gradually capture the opponent's pawns, and win after 59 moves.

At the same time, the first board also had a similar rook-pawn endgame, with Thao Nguyen having the advantage of the king and rook mobility. Like Thuy Duong, Vietnam's number one female player took advantage of two pawns over her opponent, and won against former chess queen Stefanova after 60 moves. Thao Nguyen's performance in the tournament increased to 2.527.

Stefanova is the 2004-2006 Women's World Chess Champion, having reached a peak Elo of 2,560. She is also the captain of the Bulgarian team that won the 2023 European Women's Team Championship, also with a similar squad at the 2024 Olympiad. The average Elo of the four Bulgarian women playing in this match is 2,355, compared to Vietnam's 2,285.

In the previous match, the men's team drew 2-2 with the eighth seed England in the open group. In the third board, Le Tuan Minh (2,564) had to hold the black pieces, but attacked McShane's castle (2,611) right after the opening. After exchanging queen and knight, the Vietnamese representative moved the black rook to the first rank, pinning both the white bishop and rook. He then moved the remaining rook to the first rank to capture the white bishop. Immediately after that, the English player had to admit defeat because he had lost a bishop right in the middlegame.

McShane, 40, once achieved an Elo of 2,713, making him a Super Grandmaster. Le Minh is in the best form of his career, with 7.5 points in 9 games played at the 2024 Chess Olympiad. His performance is equivalent to that of a player with an Elo of 2,804. Four of Le Minh's six wins in Hungary were against opponents with an Elo above 2,600.

Le Tuan Minh put Vietnam ahead, but Tran Tuan Minh (2,434) could not hold out against Gawain Jones (2,623) on board four. With a 189 Elo difference, despite holding the white card, Tran Minh lost a quality, then a statue when entering the endgame. This was the fourth consecutive loss for the men's team on board four, in the last five rounds, when the team failed to win a fourth consecutive match.

In the first two tables, Le Quang Liem (2,741) and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2,633) drew with Nikita Vitiugov (2,676) and Michael Adams (2,661) respectively. Therefore, the final score between the two teams was 2-2. This result may be surprising, as the men's team is only the 21st seed, with an average Elo 56 coefficients lower than their opponents (2,593 compared to 2,649). However, the chance for the men's team to compete for a medal is almost gone, with only two rounds left.

The women's team won in round 9 but dropped two places to 11th due to a decrease in the secondary index. There are nine teams with 14 points, ranked from third to 11th. Leading the tournament is Kazakhstan with 16 points.

The men's team also dropped three places, to 10th place after round 9. In the group of 20 teams with 13 points in the Open group, Vietnam ranked highest. Meanwhile, India continued to lead with 17 points and was one step closer to the championship. Meanwhile, world number one Magnus Carlsen (2,832) held the white pieces but lost to Vladimir Fedoseev (2,692).

Round 10, also the penultimate round, will take place from 8pm on Saturday, September 21, Hanoi time. The men's team will meet the 13th seed Spain, while the women's team will meet the host Hungary to reunite with Grandmaster Hoang Thanh Trang.