Two Vietnamese players compete for the U12 World Championship

Egypt's Nguyen Nam Kiet and Dau Khuong Duy met in the final game with the meaning of a final match, at the U12 World Chess Championship.

After 10 games, Khuong Duy is leading with 9 points, while Nam Kiet is second with 8 points. Either of these two players has guaranteed to bring the championship to Vietnam. Number one seed Ahmad Khagan (Azerbaijan) is next with 7.5 points, followed by a group of nine players with 7 points. In chess, each win is one point, a draw is 0.5 points and a loss is zero points.

Chess player Nguyen Nam Kiet. Photo: FBNV — Chess player Nguyen Nam Kiet. Photo: *FBNV*

The tournament does not prohibit two players from the same federation from meeting each other in the final round, so the pairing results put Nam Kiet and Khuong Duy on the same table in the "final" match from 2:30 pm today, Hanoi time. Nam Kiet holds the white pieces, will be the champion if he wins this round, because the first tiebreaker is considered when two players have the same score is the head-to-head. With other results, Khuong Duy will win the gold medal.

If Nam Kiet drew, he would also be guaranteed a silver medal, with 8.5 points. Because if Khagan won the final game, the Azerbaijani player would only have 8.5 points like Nam Kiet, but lost the head-to-head. The remaining players would all have a maximum of 8 points. And if he lost to Khuong Duy, Nam Kiet would risk losing everything. Therefore, he would have to choose between taking a risk to have a chance to win the championship, or playing for a draw to win a silver medal.

Nam Kiet was born in 2011, the same age as Khuong Duy, and both are Hanoi players. This group also has another player from the capital participating in the tournament, Nguyen Manh Duc, ranked 14th with 6.5 points and no longer able to compete for a medal.

The 2023 World Junior Chess Championship (standard chess) will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from October 16 to October 26, with six groups, divided equally into three boys and three girls in the U8, U10 and U12 groups. Vietnam still has a chance to compete for medals in other groups, such as U8 or U12 girls.

In the U8 women's group, Nguyen Thi Phuong Anh is ranked third with 7.5 points, and Tran Hoang Bao An is right behind with 7 points. These two players no longer have a chance to win the championship, but can compete for silver and bronze medals. In the U12 women's group, Le Thai Hoang Anh is ranked third with 7.5 points, and can compete for bronze medal in the final game.

Vietnam has eight players who have won the world standard chess championship in the youth categories, including Dao Thien Hai (U16 event, 1993), Nguyen Thi Dung (U12 women, 1994), Hoang Thanh Trang (U20 women, 1998), Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (U10, 2000), Le Quang Liem (U14, 2005), Tran Minh Thang (U8, 2008), Nguyen Anh Khoi (U10, 2012 and U12, 2014) and Nguyen Le Cam Hien (U8 women, 2015). Khuong Duy or Nam Kiet will be the ninth player to appear on this list, after eight years of waiting.

Xuan Binh

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