ARMENIA, UKRAINE WIN CHESS MEET
Viet Nam News, Vietnam
June 7 2006
HA NOI – Armenian men won the gold medal after a draw with their
Hungarian rivals at the last round of the Chess Olympiad at Turin.
The Armenian men’s team, seeded No 3, grabbed two points from two
draws and one win in the last three round, earning them 36 points to
triumph at the tournament.
The second and third place belong to China and USA, respectively.
The Russian team, who was expected to take the title, lost in the
last round against Israel and ranked sixth with 32 points.
Meanwhile the women’s title went to the Ukrainian team with 29.5
points, followed by Russia and China.
Vietnamese men’s team who was number 37 seed at the tournament dropped
to 39th place with 29 points due to their poor performance in rounds
11 and 12 after their 2.5-1.5 victory over Slovakia in the last round
on Sunday.
Grand Master (GM) Tu Hoang Thong (Elo rated 2457) and International
Master (IM) Le Quang Liem (2473) won two matches against two stronger
contenders GM Gennadij Timoscenko (2482) and IM Tomas Petrik (2515),
respectively. Their wins were enough for Viet Nam to pocket victory
in the last round of the tournament after GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son,
2555, drew with GM Igor Stohl, 2538, in an earlier match.
Only GM Nguyen Anh Dung (2542) played under his capacity, losing to
GM Lubomir Ftacnik (2597) in the final match on Sunday.
However, the win was not enough for them to rank higher in the table,
mainly due to their failures two rounds earlier.
Viet Nam lost 1-3 to Azerbaijan who were ninth-seeded last Saturday
and drew 2-2 with Belarus, seed No 19, one day before.
IM Liem was promoted to International Grand Master after excellent
results at the championship, scoring 9.5 points himself with seven
wins, five draws and one loss.
The 15-year-old Liem has clinched many titles in the past years
including a silver medal in the U-10 category in Spain in 2000, a
silver medal in the U-16 of the Asia Chess Championship and a silver
medal in the U-12 Chess Championship in Halkidiki, Greece.
He also won the U-14 title in the World Junior Chess Championship in
Belford, France, two years ago.
In the women’s tournament, Viet Nam team played successfully moving
to the 15th position finally after one win, one draw and one loss in
the last three rounds. They pocketed 23 points.
On Sunday, the Woman Grand Master (WGM) Nguyen Thi Thanh An (2317)
tied by Cuban WGM Sulennis Pina Vega in the first game. Her teammate
WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram, rating 2349, lost to the Woman FIDE Master
(WFM) Jennifer Perez Rodriguez, 2263.
In the last match, WFM Nguyen Thanh Tu, 2239, took the only win for
Viet Nam, beating Maritza Aribas Robaina (2235).