A 17-year-old Vietnamese chess prodigy shines brightly.

After four rounds at the 2026 Asian Individual Chess Championship, 17-year-old Pham Tran Gia Phuc is becoming the center of attention thanks to his outstanding performance.

Gia Phuc remains undefeated after 4 games at the 2026 Asian Individual Chess Championship - Photo: Asian Individual Chess Championship 2026

The earthquake is named Gia Phuc.

The tournament took place from May 29th to June 7th in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Vietnam had five players participating: Dau Khuong Duy, Pham Tran Gia Phuc, and Dinh Nho Kiet (Open category, men's). In the Women's category, there were female Grandmaster Luong Phuong Hanh and player Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien.

After the first four rounds, 17-year-old Pham Tran Gia Phuc has made the strongest impression with his outstanding performance. As of the morning of June 2nd, Gia Phuc has 3.5 points after four undefeated games (3 wins, 1 draw). Notably, in game 4, Gia Phuc faced Russian Grandmaster Savva Vetokhin.

Theoretically, Vetokhin was considered the clear favorite with an Elo rating of 2549, nearly 100 points ahead of Gia Phuc (Elo 2450). However, a shock occurred when the Vietnamese player had an unexpectedly brilliant game, ending the match swiftly.

Even more astonishing, when the game ended, Gia Phuc still had 1 hour and 48 minutes left on the clock, nearly 1 hour and 30 minutes more than his opponent. According to analysis from the Chess.com platform, Gia Phuc's moves were accurate with a success rate of up to 97%.

Under investigation due to suspected fraud.

The fact that a young player without an international grandmaster title could make moves as perfect as a computer in such a short time immediately aroused suspicion among the organizers that there were signs of technological cheating.

Sharing with Tuổi Trẻ about this unusual moment, Gia Phúc said: "They checked with a scanner to see if I was using any electronic devices. And of course, the result was that there was no cheating."

Gia Phuc calmly recounted that immediately after leaving the chessboard, he was detained by the organizers for a body search and subjected to a rigorous metal detector test, much like airport security. However, this didn't faze him: "I've encountered this situation once or twice before, so it feels normal."

Grandmaster Vetokhin's strategy was figured out.

Having previously faced Grandmaster Vetokhin, Gia Phuc had thoroughly studied an opening strategy that the Russian Grandmaster would likely be surprised by.

Thanks to meticulous preparation, this young talent executed quick and precise moves, completely surprising his opponent and leaving him no time to react. Continuing his momentum, Pham Tran Gia Phuc drew against the Indian Grandmaster in Round 5 (held on the afternoon of June 2nd), thus coming very close to achieving his final GM norm in his career.

Besides the standout performance of Gia Phuc, other Vietnamese players also concluded Round 4 with a range of emotions. 15-year-old Dau Khuong Duy maintains his unbeaten streak with 3 points (1 win, 4 draws). Meanwhile, Dinh Nho Kiet has earned 2.5 points after 5 games.

In the women's section, two players, Luong Phuong Hanh and Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien, have each scored 2 points after 5 rounds.

TUAN LONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ruc-sang-ky-thu-17-tuoi-viet-nam-20260603134313902.htm