Thao Nguyen won a shocking victory at the world chess championship

On the night of February 15, Vietnam's number 1 female chess player Pham Le Thao Nguyen (ranked 119th in the world) miraculously defeated Russian chess prodigy Aleksandra Goryachkina (ranked 21st in the world), winning the right to enter the round of 16 of the Women's World Chess Championship held in Iran.

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Thao Nguyen caused a shock at the Women's World Chess Championship. Photo: Bach Duong

Thao Nguyen participated in the tournament as the 47th seed out of 64 qualified players. With a modest ranking compared to his opponents, the goal of the player from Can Tho is to accumulate battle experience.

However, in the first round, the wife of Vietnam's number 2 player Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son surprised everyone when she defeated the world's 26th ranked player Lela (Georgia), winning the right to enter the second round.

In the first leg of round 2, Thao Nguyen took advantage of holding the white pieces to successfully draw against Aleksandra Goryachkina and her goal is to try to continue to draw against the Russian chess prodigy in the second leg to bring the match to a rapid game.

The player from Can Tho caused a big surprise at the tournament. Photo: FIDE

However, in the second leg that took place late on February 15, Thao Nguyen excellently took advantage of her opponent's mistakes to attack, forcing Aleksandra Goryachkina to lose after 69 moves.

Many coaches commented that this was a "shocking" victory for Thao Nguyen because this player has not had any significant international achievements while 19-year-old player Aleksandra Goryachkina was twice the world junior champion in 2013 and 2014 along with a series of other international titles.

Thao Nguyen's opponent in the round of 16 (16 players) is the number 2 seed Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), also the number 2 player in the world.

According to TNO

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