The end of the 2011 National Chess Championship: Ho Chi Minh City regained the "Queen" title

After two consecutive individual defeats in the two most recent tournaments, the University of Physical Education and Sports (October 5-15, 2010) and the Strong Players Tournament (December 5-3, 2010), player Ngo Lan Huong helped Ho Chi Minh City regain the queen title after the internal final match with Nguyen Hoang Yen on the morning of March 6 at the Phu Tho Multi-purpose Gymnasium (Ho Chi Minh City), thereby winning a record prize of 30 million VND (from sponsor Phuong Trang). The Ho Chi Minh City women's team also won big in the tournament with 4 players ranked in the top 4 positions.

Ngo Lan Huong and Nguyen Thanh Bao.

National coach Hoang Dinh Hong commented: “This result is not surprising and it cannot be said that the HCMC women's team won big. To be exact, the HCMC women's team has regained its rightful position. Because if we discuss the technical issues and analyze the matches, the defeat of the HCMC women's team in the last two tournaments was just an "accident", along with a few other objective factors. This time, Lan Huong, Hoang Yen, Hai Binh, Y Nhi, Phuong Thanh... played to their true potential.” With this championship title, Ngo Lan Huong has also successfully defended the queen title won at the 2010 National Championship.

In the men's group, the championship and the prize money of 60 million VND belonged to Nguyen Thanh Bao (Hanoi) after winning against the host player Nguyen Hoang Lam with a score of 1.5-0.5. However, Thanh Bao's victory was not discussed as much as Hoang Lam's defeat. It should be noted that this is the second consecutive time that the player nicknamed Lam "long-arm" (to distinguish him from another Nguyen Hoang Lam, nicknamed Lam "model" of Binh Duong, the player ranked 9th in this tournament), could not "reach" the National Championship title. At the 2010 National Championship, also in the final match, with a slight advantage over his opponent, Lam "long-arm" became the defeated general of the host player Vo Minh Nhat (Binh Phuoc). A coach from Ho Chi Minh City explained: "Hoang Lam lost due to psychological problems".

The men's tournament also has a notable event, the absence of young talent, national player Lai Ly Huynh (runner-up of the 2008 Asian Youth Championship). Ly Huynh is only 19 years old this year, nicknamed "Young Master Au Duong", who is predicted to be the future king of Vietnamese chess, always present in the top 5 of national tournaments, and regularly won youth tournaments in the last 2 years under the Ca Mau shirt. His absence from this tournament further solidifies the information that "Ly Huynh will join Binh Duong". Talking with a Binh Duong sports official yesterday morning, this unit confirmed that they have worked with lawyers and Ly Huynh to quickly bring him back to compete as soon as possible. Although not participating in this tournament, Lai Ly Huynh will still be proposed by Coach Hoang Dinh Hong as a special candidate to join the national team to prepare for the 2011 World Championship in Indonesia in September and the 2011 Asian Championship in Macau in December.

According to Ho Chi Minh City Sports