Local team suffers failure in third round of Chess Olympiad

Vietnam came into the match with their strongest team, including Vo Thi Kim Phung (Elo rating 2,333), Hoang Thi Bao Tram (Elo rating 2,288), Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Elo rating 2,223), and Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong (Elo rating 2,192).

Poland also sent their best possible team to the tournament, including Alina Kashlinskaya (Elo rating 2,505), Monika Socko (Elo rating 2,416), Oliwia Kiolbasa (Elo rating 2,376), and Maria Malicka (Elo rating 2,393).

In the game, Bao Tram was forced to a draw against Monika Socko, while Kim Phung lost out to rival Alina Kashlinskaya.

In addition, Mai Hung was beaten by Oliwia Kiolbas, whilst Thuy Duong also tied with Maria Malicka.

Overall, the nation finished the round with two draws and two losses against the Poles, thereby accepting their first failure in the tournament with the score of 3-1.

As a result, the team dropped to 34th in the rankings with four points. Moving into the fourth round, Vietnam are due to face off against No.57 seeds Chile.

This represents the second international tournament that Vietnamese masters have taken part in.

Furthermore, it is also the first time in 30 years that the country has not had any male competitors in the Open Division. This is because all of them, including Grandmaster Le Quang Liem who just triumphed at the Biel Grandmaster 2022 last week, are busy with personal reasons.

The 44th Olympiad boasts the highest number of participating countries and teams in its history, breaking the record set at the 43rd event in Batumi of Georgia back in 2018.

Vietnam finished seventh in the 2018 edition, with the winners being China, followed by the United States and Russia.

Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing various nations of the world compete against each other. The first official Olympiad was held in 1927 in London and saw the participation of 16 countries. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online Chess Olympiads were held in 2020 and 2021.