Eight-year-old crowned king of chess
(22-03-2009)
Viet Nam News – Hanoi,Vietnam
Tran Minh Thang’s win at the World Youth Champs last year put capital chess back in the spotlight after nearly a decade of drought. Thanh Nga finds out more.
After nearly a decade of silence, Ha Noi chess returned to its place in the spotlight when eight-year-old Tran Minh Thang became the youngest world champion in the history of Ha Noi and Viet Nam chess.
At the 2008 World Youth Chess Championships, Thang beat out 94 other competitors in the U-8 category to win the gold. Viet Nam, which hosted the event, hoped to win at least one gold, but the young master’s victory was a surprise, which earned him a place as one of Viet Nam’s best athletes of 2008.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Ha Noi was the country’s leading chess centre, boasting champions like Luu Duc Hai, Dang Tat Thang, Dang Vu Dung, Bui Vinh and Hoang Thanh Trang, one of the world’s top 20 women’s chess players.
Ha Noi chess began to decline when the city poured funds and focus into sports played at the Southeast Asian Games, where chess wasn’t an event until recent years.
As a result, coaches and managers moved to other cities and Ha Noi chess fell into a state of decline. In the decade preceding Thang’s victory, the capital hadn’t earned a single significant achievement, often not even sending competitors to national tournaments.
In 2005, leaders of the capital sport decided to reinvest in chess. Former national champion Dang Vu Dung, who had just returned home from Russia, was invited to coach the capital’s team.
Dung had plans to leave chess behind and open his own business, but after some hesitation, he accepted his mission: to reclaim a place on the podium for Ha Noi chess.
The State began pouring tens of thousands of dollars into revamping the sport. Talented players started attracting foreign experts. Chess began reorganising in every age group and connecting with foundations nationwide.
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There’s so many young talents today.