Minh defeated Bitoon Richard of the Philippines and secured 3.5 points after four rounds.

Other Vietnamese players also shone at the event yesterday. Grandmaster (GM) Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son defeated Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan of Mongolia. Even though he has the same points as Minh, Son has been ranked second because of a different auxiliary index. Son will meet Minh in the next round today.

The third spot was taken up by Zhang Zhong of Singapore, who bested Torre Eugenio of the Philippines, winning 3.5 points.

No 1 seed, GM Le Quang Liem jumped to the fourth place with 3.5 points after defeating GM Wynn Zaw Htun of Myanmar. The two-time Aeroflot Open champion Liem will meet Zhong in the fifth round.

In the women's side, Vietnamese International Master Pham Le Thao Nguyen won against her teammate Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and retained her top position in the fourth round with four points.

The No 1 seeded Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolia stood second with 3.5 points after beating Li Ruofan of Singapore. Today, she will face the No 3 Nguyen of Viet Nam.

Most of remaining places in the ranking table belong to Vietnamese female players.

The Vietnamese team includes 22 men and 16 women, who have been sent to the nine-day event with the aim of earning three berths to compete in the final of the world championships.

VNS