Vietnam ranked 23rd at the 2024 Chess Olympiad

These positions are almost true to the team's strength, when the men's team is the 21st seed, and the women's team is the 20th. The men's team rose to second place in the table after round 6, and the women's team also rose to ninth place after round 8, but the team could not maintain their momentum in the sprint stage and gradually fell towards the end of the tournament.

With not much to strive for in the final round, the men's team left number one player Le Quang Liem (2,741) behind, and were held to a 2-2 draw by Canada. Le Tuan Minh (2,564) continued to shine with a victory over Raja Panjwani (2,460). The North American representative then tied the score 1-1 thanks to Shiyam Thavandiran (2,388) defeating Tran Tuan Minh (2,434).

In the remaining two tables, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2,633) tied Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (2,509) and Bang Gia Huy (2,425) tied Razvan Preotu (2,451). The men's team finished the tournament with 14 points from five wins, four draws and two losses. In the last six rounds, the team did not win any match.

In the Women's group, the team was unlucky to meet the fourth seed China in the final round, losing 0.5-3.5. Only Vo Thi Kim Phung (2.320) was able to hold Tong Vu Tan (2.373) to a draw in the second table.

The remaining Pham Le Thao Nguyen (2,380), Luong Phuong Hanh (2,225) and Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong (2,214) lost to Chu Cam Nhi (2,487), Quach Ky (2,367) and Loc Dieu Di (2,438) respectively. The women's team also won 14 points, from seven wins and four losses.

The highlight of the team at the tournament was Le Tuan Minh, when he won the bronze medal on the third board, with a performance of 2.795 and an undefeated record, winning 9 out of 11 maximum points and many times deciding the match for the men's team.

Chess player Truong Son also impressed with an undefeated record, achieving an efficiency of 2,711 and ranking 8th among players on board two. Quang Liem lost two games, with an efficiency of 2,721, ranking 11th among players on board one.

The most impressive player on the women's team was Thuy Duong with a score of 2,289, ranking ninth among the players sitting at table four. In addition, no player from the women's team was in the Top 15 individually.

At the end of the tournament, India won gold medals in both groups. In the Open group, they had 21 points, with 10 wins and one draw. The US finished second with 17 points, while Uzbekistan finished third, despite losing to Vietnam at times.

India was crowned champion thanks to the brilliant performance of their two players on boards one and three, Gukesh Dommaraju and Erigaisi Arjun, with an efficiency of 3.056 and 2.968 respectively. Of course, they also won individual gold medals on these two boards. The individual gold medal on board two went to Vietnamese-born player Nguyen Thai Dai Van of the Czech Republic. World number one Magnus Carlsen only received a bronze medal on board one, with an efficiency of 2.810.

The women's group also had two individual gold medalists, Divya Deshmukh on board three with a score of 2.608 and Vantika Agrawal on board four with a score of 2.558. Kazakhstan finished second in the women's group, while the US finished third.

The 2024 Chess Olympiad will take place in Budapest, Hungary from September 10 to September 23, marking the 100th anniversary of the tournament. The Open Division will have 196 teams participating, while the Women's Division will have 183 teams. The tournament is considered the Olympics of the chess world, and is the largest on the planet.

The next edition will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2026.