Vietnam’s chess prodigy Nguyen Anh Khoi took top honour in both the rapid and blitz chess events of the 2015 Asian Youth Chess Championships, taking place in Suwon, the Republic of Korea from August 4 to 10.
Khoi was seeded second in the Open U-14 category with his Elo rating of 2,358, behind Iranian top seed Aryan Gholami, rated 2,392.
Despite missing out on the standard chess title – ending up in second place with seven points after nine rounds – Khoi was convincing in his top finishes in the rapid and blitz categories.
The Vietnamese star scored 5.5 points in the rapid event – the same as Iran’s Gholami and India’s Raja Harshit – but secured overall victory thanks to his better sub-index.
The blitz event saw Khoi’s absolute triumph with six points, a one-point lead over the other runners-up.
Tan Huynh Thanh Truc brought home another gold medal for Vietnam in the Girls U-12 standard category.
Vietnam also won six additional silver and four bronze medals.
At last year’s competition in Uzbekistan, Khoi also harvested commanding victories as he claimed both the standard and blitz chess crowns of the Open U-12 division.
The annual championships attracted the participation of over 300 young chess masters representing 16 countries across Asia, with Vietnam fielding a team of 28 players. The participants contended for Open and Girls titles in six age groups – U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-18.
Nhan Dan