VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese masters secured a silver medal at the first World Mind Sports Games mixed pair rapid chess event on Sunday in Beijing, China.

Duo Dao Thien Hai and Le Kieu Thien Kim lost to China’s power duo Hou Yifan and Ni Hua in the two-match final.

Despite the loss, Viet Nam’s attendance in the final was a surprise to many, as they were ranked 15th seed in the tournament which gathered strong opponents from around the world.

Hai and Kim claimed second position after the qualifying round with five wins, three draws and one loss, winning their berth in the semi-final with masters from China, Iran and Indonesia.

Losing 0.5-15 to Iran in the semi-final’s first round match was strong motive for Hai and Kim to step up their game and come out strong in the return round with a 3-0 win.

Their next task was to enter the final against China who beat Indonesia 2.5-1.5 in the semis. But in the end, the Vietnamese pair could not overtake their worthy Chinese rivals.

Up-and-coming Chinese star 14-year-old Hou and her teammate Ni white washed their Vietnamese opposition 4-0 in the two-round finals, presenting China’s chess team their second gold of the 15-day Games.

Hou said that winning gold is only the start.

“It feels great to win my first gold medal. But there are still two team events in the coming days. They are more important than the pairs competitions,” said Hou, adding that the coach’s timely directions helped her stay on track.

“I want to say ’thank you’ to my coach. He helped me a lot and made me feel less pressure today. I was in good form and played better than I did in the blitz round. I hope to take more gold in the coming days,” said the winner.

China’s leading pairs witnessed a slump in blitz chess last Wednesday. They failed to advance to the finals after their upset defeat to Ecuador in the preliminaries. China’s head coach Ye Jiangchuan said a lack of experience was the reason for their failure.

“Neither had much experience with blitz chess before, and they were still not used to it. Take Hou for example, she lost in both the individual and pairs competitions, though she played much better in slow chess at other world tournaments. We will do more training for this event after the Games,” said Ye.

Hou is the highest ranking player on the China women’s team. In last month’s world championships, the wunderkind could have become the world’s youngest chess queen by a finger’s breadth.

In the final Hou lost to Russian player Kosteniuk, who is ten-year-older. Nevertheless China’s coach remains confident in the young girl.

Iran triumphed over Indonesia in the bronze medal match.

(Source: VNS/XINHUA)