HA NOI (VNS)– Nguyen Anh Khoi extended his unbeaten run by beating Abdulla Gadimbayli of Azerbaijan in the eighth round of the boys' U10 category at the World Youth Chess Championships on Thursday.

Khoi, seeded at number 13 in the competition, now tops the group with eight points. He is one point ahead of Ukraine's Viktor Matviisen.

His teammate Nguyen Quoc Ky defeated Karanvir Lutchman Singh of Wales, but may miss out on the chance for a medal after only accumulating 3.5 points in the eight rounds.

Other Vietnamese players are also struggling at the tournament. Nguyen Thi Mai Hung overcame Bogdana Nonkovic of Serbia in the girls U18 event to reach a five point total.

In the boys' U16 event, Le Tuan Minh earned one more point after defeating Henning Kjoita of Norway, while Tran Tuan Minh lost to Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania and remained on 4.5 points.

Tran Minh Thang and Nguyen Dang Hong Phuc both lost their latest games in the boys' U12 event. They were beaten by Iranian rivals Parham Maghsoodloo and Aryan Gholami respectively.

The ninth round of the competition will begin today.

Meanwhile, Viet Nam's grandmaster Le Quang Liem triumphed over Das Debashis of India in the third round of the Fujairah International Chess Championship. The result means he now has two points and places him tenth in the rankings.

Liem will be back in action for the fourth round today. – VNS