Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (right to left) on the medal podium.

One day after snatching the men’s team rapid chess title from their Chinese competitors, the two Vietnamese stars continued to overwhelm the Chinese team in the blitz chess category, on their way to capturing Vietnam’s 13^th gold medal at the 2017 Games in Turkmenistan.

Liem, with a blitz elo rating of 2,762, took advantage of playing white to beat Wang Yue, rated 2,683, at table no. 1, while Truong Son (Blitz Elo 2,654) registered an impressive win against Yu Yangyi (Elo 2,680) despite having to play black.

The exceptional performances of Liem and Son helped the Vietnamese chess team to enjoy a fabulous finish to their AIMAG 2017 campaign with a collection of three gold medals, won in the men’s individual standard, team rapid and team blitz chess events.

Contributing to all of Vietnam’s three titles, Quang Liem has become the most valuable Vietnamese athlete in Turkmenistan, overcoming the brilliance of swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, who achieved a personal tally of two gold and one silver medal.

In the women’s team blitz final, Vietnamese duo Pham Le Thao Nguyen and Hoang Thi Bao Tram lost 0-2 to Chinese Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie, settling for a silver medal.

The Vietnamese chess team ranked second at the AIMAG 2017 with three golds, one silver and two bronzes, behind the Chinese team with five gold and six silver medals.

Concluding the AIMAG competition, Vietnam settled for ninth place overall in the medal standings, with 13 golds, eight silvers and 19 bronzes, with the titles secured in weightlifting (2), swimming (2), track and field (1), dancesport (1), billiards (1), chess (3), taekwondo (1), Kurash (1) and Muay (1).