A total of 271 players from 21 countries and territories have registered to participate in the annual HDBank International Open Chess Tournament, slated for March 10 – 15 in Hanoi.  

GM Le Quang Liem

The organising board said at a press conference in Hanoi on March 8 that among the participants, 132 will compete in the Master category for athletes who have Elo ratings of 2,100 for men and 2,000 for women, reflecting their word-class abilities. The rest will take part in the Challengers discipline.

Vietnam, as the host, sends the best roster, including all 14 Vietnamese Grandmasters (GM), to the tournament. 

Defending champion GM Le Quang Liem (Elo rating 2,736) who is the world No 22, is seeded No 1, and China’s Wang Hao (Elo rating 2,713) is No 2. 

After the success of seven editions in Ho Chi Minh City, this is the first time the tournament is held in Hanoi. It is the biggest professional chess tournament in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, and an official competition in the world chess federation’s (FIDE) system.  

The competition offers a total of 55,000 USD in prizes, an increase of about 20 percent compared to last year.-VNA