Six out of seven Vietnamese masters secured wins in the first round of the Asian Individual Chess Championship currently taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

No 1 seed Grandmaster Le Quang Liem had no difficulty in defeating FIDE master Fayzullaev Akmal of the host nation in the Open’s category.

He will next play GM Megaranto Susanto from Indonesia in board 1 in the second round.

GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son beat Indonesian International master Wahono Awam to enter the leading group. His next rival is IM Munkhgal Gombosuren from Mongolia.

GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy also won against Salim Issa Ali Shamas ò Oman.

On the women’s side, Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Hoang Thi Bao Tram entered the top group with their first round wins.

Only women’s IM Vo Thi Kim Phung had to settle for a draw in this round against Mongolian IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag.

The Asian tournament takes place from May 25 to June 6 with athletes competing for total prize money of US$75,000.

The top five players from the Open class qualify for the 2017 World Cup.

The Asian women’s champion qualifies for the Women’s World Championship.

VNS