The whole family of four competed in the KPNest chess tournament.

Chess Family

Scrolling through the list of players registered for the KPNest chess tournament, chess fans will easily notice an interesting detail: a family of four has registered to participate. This is the family of the famous chess coach and player couple, Tong Thai Hung and Nguyen Thi Thanh An.

Coach Tong Thai Hung (center) teaches chess to his son.

Construction engineer Tong Thai Hung, born in 1968, won second prize in the Ho Chi Minh City chess tournament in 1994 and 1995. He later became a coach, working with his protégé Nguyen Thi Thanh An. The two married, and Thanh An gained a valuable assistant in her chess training, leading to significant achievements both domestically and internationally, including a long stint representing the Vietnamese national chess team. Currently, Thanh An competes and coaches chess in Ho Chi Minh City, and has two daughters, Tong Thai Ky An (16 years old) and Tong Thai Hoang An (12 years old).

Nguyen Thi Thanh An has dedicated over 20 years to Vietnamese chess, currently competing and coaching simultaneously.

Inheriting chess "genes" from their parents, the two daughters of coach Tong Thai Hung and Nguyen Thi Thanh An have achieved early success in youth tournaments. Ky An won a bronze medal in the individual event and a gold medal in the team event at the U.20 Southeast Asian Championships. Hoang An has been even more outstanding, winning a silver medal in the U.8 blitz chess World Championships in 2019, a silver medal in the U.12 blitz chess World Championships in 2023, a gold medal in the U.8 standard chess Asian Championships, and six gold medals (three individual and three team) in the U.12 Southeast Asian Youth Championships...

The pressure stems from the fear of being judged as a chess prodigy who plays poorly.

Sharing her experience in training her children to play chess, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh An said that the biggest advantage is the close relationship between them. They talk about chess while eating, while sleeping, and even while playing together, thus naturally imparting chess knowledge to the children through conversations.

Tong Thai Hoang An is achieving success in international youth competitions.

"Regarding training, each child has their own unique aptitude, so I try to develop their abilities and interests to the fullest rather than forcing them. For example, if the older child only likes competitive chess, I encourage them to compete more and then make adjustments. If the younger child likes to play a variety of openings, I let them try all kinds of openings so they can choose. Coach Tong Thai Hung is in charge of preparing materials, analyzing, and teaching chess to the children, while Thanh An acts as the sparring partner, testing their abilities," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh An.

Ms. Thanh An frankly shared the difficulties when parents act as their children's coaches, as it can easily lead to children relying on their parents' knowledge and not being willing to learn or think deeply. Teaching children at home without group learning also lacks competition. When training their children in chess, parents often let them rest when they're tired rather than forcing them, thus lacking commitment to training time. Furthermore, there's the invisible pressure to achieve results, fearing that others will think the child of a coach, from a family of chess masters, is bad at chess.

The entire family of coach and chess player Tong Thai Hung and Nguyen Thi Thanh An will compete in the KPNest 2024 chess tournament.

Eagerly awaiting the day to conquer the KPNest chess tournament.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh An said that this was the first time in Vietnam that a tournament was held in the format of 15 blitz chess rounds, which was both fun and exciting, so the whole family was eager to try their hand at it.

Registration for the KPNest Chess Tournament is open until November 20th.

"In our family, each person has their own goals depending on their chess skills. It's a bit difficult to compete for top scores, but we're trying to increase our Elo rating. Tong Thai Hung is competing in the open category, mainly for fun and to win a lucky draw, as this category has many strong players like Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Le Tuan Minh... Ky An is aiming for the top 6 in the U.16 girls' age group. Hoang An has the potential to compete for a medal in the U.12 girls' age group, but at this stage, she's focusing on the standard chess category at the World Youth Championships, having returned from Italy one day before the tournament. I'm also aiming for the top 10 in the girls' category because blitz chess isn't my forte," Nguyen Thi Thanh An revealed.

The KPNest Chess Tournament, organized by KPNest Bird's Nest Development Joint Stock Company in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Chess Federation, will be held on December 1, 2024, at The Adora Center Convention Center (431 Hoang Van Thu Street, Ward 4, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) .

The tournament is divided into 12 groups, including 6 men's groups and 6 women's groups. In each group, players compete in 15 games using the Swiss system, in a 3+2 blitz format (3 minutes per player, plus 2 seconds after each move).

The total prize money amounts to nearly 2 billion VND, with the champion of each category receiving 50 million VND, second place 20 million VND, and third place 10 million VND.

Players can register for the tournament at: http://giaicovua.kpnest.com.vn. The deadline for registration is November 20, 2024.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hiem-co-ca-gia-dinh-4-nguoi-cung-tranh-tai-giai-co-vua-kpnest-185241020052810669.htm