Nine individual titles of the 16 sets of medals in the standard category were secured by Vietnamese masters, with eight in the U8, U12, U16, U18 and U20 age divisions for men and the U10, U14 and U16 age groups for women.

The remaining gold medal went to Luu Duc Hai in the men’s over 65 age group with 3.5 points after five rounds.

Vietnamese contenders went on to achieve another nine individual gold medals in the rapid chess event.

Most impressively, the girls’ U10 competition saw Vietnam’s absolute domination as the top five places went to Vietnam, with Nguyen Ngo Lien Huong crowned champion winning 6.5 points after a seven-match unbeaten run.

The blitz chess competition on June 6 earned Vietnam 11 more individual gold medals, most notably of which was the men’s U8 title by Dang Anh Minh who scored 7.5 points after nine rounds of play.

With this victory, Minh became the only player in the tournament to win all three events: standard, rapid and blitz.

Ngo Duc Tri and Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong were also among Vietnam’s outstanding performers each winning two individual gold medals in the men’s U12 standard and blitz disciplines and the women’s U14 rapid and blitz categories.

The annual tournament brought together roughly 340 junior chess players from 13 countries - Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, China, India, New Zealand, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, and Thailand - who competed for standard, rapid and blitz titles in different age groups ranging from under eight to over 65.

Vietnam registered the largest delegation with 143 players, featuring most of the country’s young prominent names, renowned for their outstanding performances at regional and world tournaments, including Nguyen Anh Khoi, Nguyen Le Cam Hien, Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien, Tran Tuan Minh and Nguyen Thu An.