Young masters Nguyen Anh Khoi and Tran Tuan Minh took big step in the ranking of the HDBank Cup International Open Chess 2016 Masters Tournament.

Master Nguyen Anh Khoi. Photo courtesy of HDBank

The two Vietnamese registered an impressive performance yesterday winning the sixth round matches at Đệ Nhất Hotel in HCM City.

The 13-year-old Khôi, the former U12 world champions, successfully tied with former national No 1 and his coach Đào Thiên Hải after 30 moves and jumped to No 14 in the ranking.

His teammate Minh did a better job, being placed at fifth, after beating Võ Thành Ninh in an all-Vietnamese match. 

Minh, all of 19, with 4.5 points has the best ranking among all local masters after six rounds.

The top hope of Việt Nam, Grandmaster Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn who is seeded No 4 here, is at No 6 with four points. Yesterday, he lost to No 1 seed Wang Hao of China, who is firmly at the top position with 5.5 points.

Zhao Jun, also of China, has the same points but ranks second. He is followed by Viktor Laznicka of Czech Republic, on five points.

In the next round today, the highlight will be clashes between Khôi and Russian Anton Shomoev, and Minh versus No 2 seed Ni Hua from China.

GM Sơn will have the chance to go further when he meets with IM Lê Tuấn Minh next round.

In the women’s category, Việt Nam No 1 Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên drew with Singapore’s U16 player Tin Jingyao. Nguyên who has 3.5 points to top the group will next play countryman Từ Hoàng Thông. Li Roufan of Singapore and Chinese Zhou Guijue are second and third, respectively.

In the Challenger Tournament, eight masters from Việt Nam are in the top 10.

Phạm Minh Hiếu is in the lead with six points, followed by teammate Lê Thành Tài.

The only two foreign players in this group are Martin Gaticales in third place and Ting Marvin in the tenth position, both of the Philippines.

Can Tho to host Tien Phong marathon

Athletes begin their competition at the 56th National Cross-Country and Marathon Tournament in the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc last year. Photo hanoimoi.com.vn

The southern province of Cần Thơ will host the 57th National Cross-Country and Marathon Tournament, Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, on March 20.

Athletes will participate in 11 categories for both amateurs and professionals, competing for a total award money of VNĐ170 million (US$7,400).

The event will be live aired on VTV6 from 6.30am onwards.

Hanoi triumph at pencak silat event

Hà Nội took the lead at the National Pencak Silat Championships, which wrapped up in the northern province of Tuyên Quang on Wednesday.

The team brought home eight golds, two silvers and two bronzes. Thanh Hóa finished second with three golds, one silver and three bronzes, while An Giang came in third with two golds, two silvers and one bronze.

More than 300 martial artists from 42 clubs across the country, competed in the six-day tournament for 26 sets of medals.

Le wins fourth stage of Binh Duong cycling tournament

Cao Thị Cẩm Lệ triumphed at the fourth stage of the sixth Bình Dương International Women’s Cycling Tournament, Biwase Cup 2016 yesterday.

Lệ of Biwase beat Đặng Thị Ngọc Huyền of Đồng Tháp to the finish line to take the lead in the 50km race around Hồ Xuân Hương Lake in Đà Lạt City with a time of 1:15.19.

Although Japanese Kaneko Hiromi came in third for this stage of the race, she held the yellow jersey for the best overall time after completing four stages with a combined time of 9:32.38. Nguyễn Thị Thi of Lộc Trời Group and Thailand’s Phetdarin Somrat finished second and third.

Thi’s teammate Nguyễn Thị Thật won the green jersey as the best sprinter, with 42 points.

In the team’s rankings, Japan retained the top position with a combined time of 28:46.17. Thailand and Lộc Trời finished second and third.

Today cyclists will compete in the 34km fifth stage around Trần Phú road in Nha Trang City.

VNS