Young Vietnamese chess star Nguyen Anh Khoi.—Photo Tiun

HA NOI (VNS)– Young Vietnamese chess star Nguyen Anh Khoi, the world under-10 champion, has been seeded No 1 ahead of the forthcoming ASEAN+ Age-Group Chess Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The competition is a rapid chess event, with players given only 25 minutes to win each of their games.

Khoi, with an Elo rating of 1.912 - the tournament's highest, will face strong rivals such as Nitish Bunlurka (Elo 1.921) of India, Lee Jun-wei (Elo 1.839) from Singapore and B.Mohd Zuhri (Elo 1.823) of Malaysia.

Khoi is one of six Vietnamese contenders in the boys' under-12 category.

In the other categories, Nguyen Duc Sang of Viet Nam is also seeded No 1 in the boys' U8 class; Tran Minh Thang tops the boys' U14 group; Le Tuan Minh is the favourite in the boys' U18 and Nguyen Van Hai will hope to come top in the boys' U20.

Viet Nam also have high-ranking representatives in all the pools for girls.

The regional tournament is open for those in U8, U10, U14, U16, U18, U20 age groups, and there is also a category for players over 50 years old.

The tournament will begin on June 5 and conclude on June 14. – VNS