In the top 100 U20 players worldwide, Vietnam is represented by Dau Khuong Duy, ranked 59th with a rating of 2490. At 14, he is one of the few U15 players appearing in a ranking designed for the U20 age group.
FIDE currently defines “junior” as under 20. In recent years, there have been discussions within the chess community about lowering the threshold to 18, in line with legal adulthood, as players are now capable of reaching top level shortly after turning 20. World champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who won the title at 19, is one example.
If the benchmark is set at U18, Vietnam has three International Masters (IMs): Dau Khuong Duy (14, rating 2490), Pham Tran Gia Phuc (16, rating 2445) and Banh Gia Huy (16, rating 2436). The International Master title is the second-highest in FIDE’s title system, below Grandmaster, and requires a minimum rating of 2400.
At the U18 level, only the United States, Russia, China and India have more International Masters than Vietnam.
Germany, ranked fifth in the world in average rating, also has three U18 IMs - Deuer, Korchynskyi and Gloeckler. However, all three have lower ratings than Dau Khuong Duy and are older.
Other strong chess nations such as France, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and the Netherlands each have no more than two IMs in the U18 category.
