VietNamNet Bridge - While all national sports teams are funded by the state, the chess team is not.

Quang Liem ranked 29th seed in the World Cup

Le Quang Liem begins preparing for World Cup

Truong Son (left) and Quang Liem.

Chess coach Lam Minh Chau said that the coach himself and his two students – Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Le Quang Liem – have to buy air tickets to Norway, to seek accommodations and cover all expenses for the World Chess Cup because their tournament is not in the plan of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training. The Vietnam Chess Federation has not allocated funding for the team.

Some members of the Vietnam Chess Federation said that the organizing board of the World Cup Chess granted at least $6,000 to each competitor and that amount is enough for Son, Liem and their coach to go to Norway and they should not ask for funding from the federation.

It is odd that the participation of the chess team of Vietnam in the World Chess Cup, which is an official event like any World Cup of other sports, is not in the plan of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training.

Mr. Tran Duc Phan, a senior official from the General Department of Sports and Physical explained that the Vietnam Chess Federation did not ask the agency to allocate funding for the chess team to the World Cup. It means that the federation can cover the expenses itself.

A representative of the Vietnam Chess Federation has confirmed that the federation would try its best to recover the funding for the trip to Norway to coach Chau and his students.

Mr. Pham Ngoc Son, Chairman of the HCM City Chess Federation, said that it is necessary to separate professional chess players who individually compete at international tournaments and those who perform the national mission. Although the World Cup grants a bonus, Liem and Son attend the World Cup as the national duty so they must be financially supported.

Nguyen Nam