Photo: tinthethao365

Vietnam's Nguyen Mai Hung claimed the top spot at the International Chess Tournament – HD Bank Cup which ended in HCM City on Jan. 9.

The 17-year-old grandmaster grabbed 4.5 points over the nine rounds. By doing so, she equalled the scores of three other rivals but ended up taking the title because of her better sub-index.

Hung, from Bac Giang province, had previously won a gold medal at the National Sports Games which helped her to become Vietnam's No 1 master.

She needs just one standard to become Vietnam's fifth – and youngest ever– International Female Grandmaster and is expected to earn this at a training course in Hungary this summer.

It was a great tournament for Vietnam's women with Hung's teammates Pham Le Thao Nguyen and Nguyen Thanh An coming second and third at the HD Bank Cup.

On the men's side, the No 1 seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam had a disappointing event, earning fourth place overall with 6.5 points, half a point less than event champion Yu Yangyi of China.

Chinese Wen Yang and Filipino Gomez John Paul were the two runners-up on the men's side of the draw. Liem said he wasn't too worried about his performance here.

"In general, I had a fairly good tourney although I wasted several chances to improve my position. But this is normal in chess. I do not have to worry about my performance here because results at this tournament don't influence my Elo rating," said Liem who ranks 79th in the world.

"In 2011 my target is to reach the rating of 2,700, which is the level for a super International Grandmaster (IGM)," added Liem whose present Elo rating is 2,664.

Other male Vietnamese players failed to make top three. IGM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, the former world U10 champion was at fifth. While Nguyen Anh Dung and Dao Thien Hai suffered losses in early round.

Source: VNA