Pham Le Thao Nguyen defeated former world champion at Olympiad 2024

After the 9th round of the 2024 Olympiad, the Vietnamese women's chess team unexpectedly returned to the medal race. In which, Pham Le Thao Nguyen had an impressive victory.

Pham Le Thao Nguyen won a spectacular victory over former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova - Photo: FLICKR

In round 9 of the 2024 Olympiad, which ended in the early morning of September 21, the Vietnamese women's chess team faced Bulgaria. At table 1, Pham Le Thao Nguyen (elo 2380) had to face Antoaneta Stefanova (elo 2416), who was the world champion in the 2004-2006 period. Holding the black pieces, the Vietnamese player excellently won after 61 moves when there was still a king, rook and 2 pawns on the board. Meanwhile, Stefanova only had the king and rook. In the remaining 3 tables, Pham Le Thao Nguyen's teammates also had an excellent day of competition. In which, Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong (elo 2214) won the second victory for the Vietnamese women's chess team when she defeated Beloslava Krasteva (elo 2295). Vo Thi Kim Phung (elo 2320) drew with Nurgyul Salimova (elo 2412). Therefore, Luong Phuong Hanh's (elo 2225) defeat against Viktoria Radeva (elo 2297) did not affect the final result of the whole team.

Vietnam's women's chess team unexpectedly revives hope of winning a medal at the 2024 Olympiad - Photo: FLICKR

The Vietnamese women's chess team beat Bulgaria with a final score of 2.5 - 1.5. This is the girls' third consecutive win, giving them a total of 14 points. On the 2024 Olympiad women's rankings after round 9, there are 9 teams with the same number of points and ranked from 3rd to 11th. The Vietnamese women's chess team ranked 11th due to losing to other teams on the extra score difference. They still have 2 more matches to improve their position and hope to win a medal. But anyway, the current achievement is commendable because after round 6, they fell to 23rd place. But with 3 consecutive wins, the Vietnamese women's chess team has improved significantly. In the next round, Pham Le Thao Nguyen and her teammates will compete with the host team Hungary.

Le Tuan Minh's good form could not help the men's chess team win - Photo: FLICKR

Meanwhile, in the men's team event, the Vietnamese team continued to draw against England. The two top players Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son drew with Nikita Vitiugov and Michael Adams, respectively. Le Tuan Minh continued his impressive form when he defeated Luke McShane. However, Tran Tuan Minh's loss to Gawain Jones meant the Vietnamese team only had a 2-2 draw. With 13 points, Le Quang Liem and his teammates fell to 10th place and their hopes of a medal at the 2024 Olympiad are increasingly distant. In the next round, they will face Spain.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/pham-le-thao-nguyen-thang-cuu-vo-dich-the-gioi-tai-olympiad-2024-20240921050928611.htm