Thao Nguyen finishes fifth at World Rapid Championship

Vietnamese International Master (IM), Pham Le Thao Nguyen, claimed fifth place overall in the rapid competition at the ongoing World Blitz & Rapid Championships 2017 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Vietnamese International Master (IM), Pham Le Thao Nguyen, claimed fifth place overall in the rapid competition at the ongoing World Blitz & Rapid Championships 2017 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

 

Thao Nguyen pockets US$9,940 for her fifth-place finish in the rapid competition

Starting the last day of the rapid tournament with a defeat, Nguyen redeemed herself by scoring three points in the remaining four matches. Her final victory over Turkan Mamedjarova (Azerbaijan) helped the Vietnamese star to complete her campaign with 10 points, thereby sharing the cash prize of US$59,000 with four other masters, who also scored 10 points each.

The exceptional performance in Saudi Arabia gifted Nguyen an additional 66 Elo rating points, which will lift her up to 19th position in the next FIDE world rankings, with an Elo rating of 2,456.

The top two places in the women’s rapid category went to Chinese Grandmasters, Ju Wenjun (Elo 2,537) and Lei Tingjie (Elo 2,450), who pocketed respective cash prizes of US$64,000 and US$32,000. German IM, Elisabeth Paehtz, took the overall bronze medal, together with US$20,000.

Contrary to Nguyen’s success, three other female Vietnamese representatives, namely Hoang Thi Bao Tram, Vo Thi Kim Phung and Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, failed to make the top 30, ending up in 46th, 58th and 70th position, respectively.

Vietnam’s no. 1 chess master, Le Quang Liem, and the country’s no. 2 player, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, failed to live up to expectations, finishing just 30th and 43rd in the men’s competition, with nine and 8.5 points, respectively.

The men’s crown was secured by former “chess king” Viswanathan Anand (India) with 10.5 points. Meanwhile, “chess king” Magnus Carlsen (Norway) only managed a top-five finish.

On December 29 and 30, six Vietnamese players will enter the blitz competition, which offers cash prizes of US$750,000 for men and US$250,000 for women.