Nguyen Duc Hoa enjoys a successful tournament in the Philippines. Duc Hoa
(Elo 2,499) claimed seven points after nine matches, just one point behind
the top seed, Nigel D Short (Elo 2,698) from the United Kingdom, who was
crowned champion following seven wins and two draws.
The
Philippines competition could be considered a successful tournament for the
Can Tho-born player as he constantly maintained his place in the top five
performers throughout the nine rounds of play. This result helps to add 4.9
elo points to Hoa’s FIDE world rating following the tournament.
Armenia’s
Karen H. Grigoryan (Elo 2,586) finished as runner-up with seven points.
Hanoi’s
famous chess masters, Tran Tuan Minh and Tran Minh Thang, failed to make the
top five overall finishers. Tuan Minh, seeded third with an elo rating of
2.558, suffered three surprising defeats against lower-ranked opponents,
claiming 12th place on aggregate with 5.5 points and being
deducted 19.9 elo points in his world rating.
Meanwhile,
Minh Thang (Elo 2,352) recorded a last-round win over J. Pimentel of the
Philippines, thus finishing in sixth position with six points and gaining an
additional 8.5 elo points.
Following
the tournament, Tran Minh Thang, 17, will return to Vietnam to prepare for
the World Youth U14, U16, U18 Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships in Greece
from October 27 to 31.
At the
World Youth U14, U16, U18 Championships 2016, held in Khanty-Mansiysk,
Russia, Tran Minh Thang was the only Vietnamese medalist, taking a bronze
medal in the boys’ U16 category with eight points after 11 rounds of play.
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