Tin Thanh Sơn chiến thắng từ giải Cờ Vua trẻ Châu Á trong lúc quê nhà đang tổ chức Giải cờ vua trẻ Thanh thiếu niên và nhi đồng toàn quốc năm 2001 đă khích lệ tinh thần cho nhiều kỳ thủ trẻ. Đó là tấm gương sáng cho nhiều VĐV trong nước. Thanh Sơn đă một ḿnh một "ngựa" ra đi và đă chiến thắng tuyệt đối, một kỳ tích mà các kỳ thủ đàn anh chưa từng làm được tại đấu trường Châu Á. Đáng tiếc là các VĐV nữ của chúng ta không tham dự giải này.

Giải diễn ra từ 12 đến 20/7/2001 tại Iran. Sau đây là kết quả toàn bộ giải

FINAL RANKING  - BOYS

FINAL RANKING - GIRLS

The Boys U20 section was won by Nguyen Thanh,Son (2404) from Vietnam with 9/11 in addition he also achieved hisfirst GM Norm, he played sold chess throughout. Behind him were the Indianplayers IM Harikrishna (2522) and Rathnakaran on 7.5 points taking 2nd and3rd place. The Iranian hosts had IM Ghaem Maghami (2509) and Moradiabadi(2404) in a tie for fourth to eighth place along with Hasan Mehdi fromBangelash, Mahesh Chandran from India and Takyrbashev from Kazaghestan allon 7 points. Last year the first, second and third placed players were allfrom India, but this year Nguyen broke their stranglehold. It was differentin the Girls section where Indian players took all the medal positions 1stM Kasturi (2115) on 8½ points ahead of S Meenakshi (2245) and Tania Sachdev(2151) both on 8 points The event had a total of $4000 in prizes

Thanh Son - new Asian under 20 champion

While chess spectators nationwide follow every step of talented youngster Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, world under-10 champion, at the national junior contest, another Son (Nguyen Thanh Son) finished first at the 24^th Asian junior contest, which ended on July 20 in Teheran, Iran. The contest saw the participation of 36 players from 15 countries and territories: Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iran and Vietnam. Young player Nguyen Thanh Son, from the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, was the only Vietnamese player at the contest. Thanh Son, with Elo index of 2404, ranked after four seeds: international Indian grandmaster Harikrishna, 2522; Ghaem Maghami, from Iran, 2509; Sundrarajan Kidambi, from India, 2421; and Moradiabadi Elshan, from Iran, 2404. However, with great determination to gain achievements like his predecessors Tu Hoang Thong and Nguyen Anh Dung, who finished first and second in previous contests, he overcame strong opponents like Athula Russel from Sri Lanka, Kayumov Sergey from Uzebkistan, Alsayed Mohamet from Qatar, Sundararajan Kidambi, Venkattesh and Harikrishna from India; Shaarbaf from Iran and Mahesh Chandran from India. He gained eight points after nine games. In the 10^th game, he drew with Rathnakaran, from India, and gained 8.5 points, leading his main challenger for the title, Harikrishna from India, by 1.5 points. He won the title with one more game in hand. According to the latest result, he achieved a draw in the final game, gaining a total of nine points after 11 games. The victory earned him the international master title and two criteria for the international grandmaster title. With one more criterion, he will be recognised as an international grandmaster by FIDE. So far, FIDE has recognised Vietnamese players: Hoang Thanh Trang, Dao Thien Hai, Tu Hoang Thong and Nguyen Anh Dung as international grandmasters. It is reported that, at the forthcoming 21^st SEA Games in Malaysia this September, chess will be a performance event and will be officially put onto the SEA Games agenda in 2003. It is possible that Vietnam will send players to join the event.

By THUY TIEN
(Vietnam Sports newspaper)