Son suffers setback at Sharjah chess championship

Grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son was ousted from the group of leading players at the Asian Continental Open Chess Championships in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates yesterday.

After five rounds, Son has five points and is ranked 23 out of 64 players.


Vietnamese player Dao Thien Hai is No 24, while Nguyen Duc Hoa is No 29.

Today, Son will meet Salem AR Saleh of the UAE in the sixth round, Hai will play Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of India and Hoa will meet Wang Yiye of China.

In the women's side, three Vietnamese players are in the top 10, including Hoang Thi Bao Tram (No 6) with 3.5 points, and Nguyen Thi Thanh An (No 9) and Hoang Thi Nhu Y (No 10) with three points each.

Despite having three points, Pham Le Thao Nguyen is ranked No 12 because of a different auxiliary index. Nguyen Thi Mai Hung is ranked No 17 with 2.5 points.

Today, Tram will meet Ni Shiqun of China, An plays Karavade Eesha of India, Nguyen meets Y and Hung competes with Swathi Ghate of India.

The event will end on Friday.

The top five from the Asian Open Championships will qualify for the 2015 World Cup. The Asian Women's champion qualifies for the 2015 Women's World Championships.