Article, photo: NGUYEN MINH
In the past 2 days, at the Cong Dai Chess Club (Tran Phu Street, Ninh Kieu District) took place the 2023st "Viet Tien" Cup Competition in Can Tho City in XNUMX. The tournament is organized by the Can Tho City Chess Federation, with the sponsorship of businesses from Ho Chi Minh City.
Mr. Tran Phuoc Son (third from left) and Mr. Nguyen Viet Tien (third from right) presented the team championship trophy to the athletes of Cong Dai Club.
The tournament gathered 41 players from chess clubs in the districts of Binh Thuy, Cai Rang, Thot Not, Co Do, Phong Dien; City Police Club, Son Ca Café Club and the owner of Cong Dai Club. This is a movement award, but converging the top athletes in Can Tho, athletes reaching the national grandmaster level. The tournament had interesting results when the young athletes of the Cong Dai Club won the highest in both individual and team content. Specifically, athlete Le Manh Van won individual gold medals; and with other players won the team gold medal. Truong Ca, Chairman of Cong Dai Club, said: “These are young athletes discovered through Cong Dai channel, a youtube channel specializing in livestreaming nightly chess matches. You do many different jobs, have difficult circumstances."
The chess movement in Can Tho is currently developing well and is one of the strong localities in the Mekong Delta. For many years, the players in Can Tho have always been hard at work, wanting to participate in local and national tournaments, but there are very few opportunities because Can Tho sports no longer maintain investment in this subject. Stemming from that concern, the Can Tho City Chess Federation campaigned and found funding to organize the tournament and create a new playground for the players. Mr. Tran Phuoc Son, Chairman of Can Tho City Chess Federation, said: “The wish of chess lovers in Can Tho is to continue to have a playground, because there are many chess players. Over the past few years, Viet Tien Company from Ho Chi Minh City has accompanied many tournaments with the federation. This year, the company continues to sponsor to organize the Can Tho City tournament, only for players in Can Tho. The tournament was successful and the sponsor - Viet Tien Company is committed to a long-term commitment to make this tournament a traditional tournament of Can Tho for many years.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Tien, owner of Viet Tien Company, said: "Actually, my passion for chess is only part of my participation in sponsoring the tournament, but mainly because of my love for Can Tho. I love the land and the people of Can Tho, once accidentally went to watch chess through Cong Dai channel, found it interesting, so I decided to support the development of the Chess movement in Can Tho. In the coming time, I also want to lead the sports industry in Can Tho to create conditions to continue sponsoring younger and longer-term tournaments. Hopefully, by the end of this year, the Mekong Delta will be held in Can Tho, bringing together all the players in the region. In the long term, I also aim to create a chess playing field in schools and sponsor a chess game to compete at the Phu Dong Health Association.”
In addition to sponsoring chess tournaments, over the past few years, Viet Tien Company has also provided funding for Can Tho chess teams to participate in national tournaments. Most recently, the Cong Dai club's athletes went to compete in the 2023 National Club Championship in Nam Dinh and won bronze. Mr. Tran Phuoc Son assessed: "If interested, Can Tho players can compete in the national tournament. The level of athletes is now approaching that of the top players in the country, but they are also weak in psychology due to lack of battle experience. Therefore, if they are invested, they will develop quickly and be able to be at the top.”
