With a blitz chess gold medal and 3 gold medals in the individual and team categories at the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2022 recently held in Bali, Indonesia, chess player Tran Le Vy, a student of Ngo Gia Tu Primary School in Son Tra District, Da Nang enriched her outstanding collection of achievements.

Tran Le Vy had a strong passion for chess since her childhood. Photo: T.L

At the age of 10, Vy has a bright smile and a sociable and open lifestyle. Asked about why and how Vy fell in love with chess, Tran Phuoc Dai, Vy's father said: "When Vy was a child, she didn’t focus on playing for a long time, making it quite hard for us to take care of her. When Vy was in kindergarten, I knew that the school had a preschool chess club, so I let my child try it, maybe it helped her to increase her concentration. Luckily, Vy adapted herself to this type of sport and fell in love with it soon. From then on, she focused on whatever she did, including playing and studying”.

Every day, after school, Vy's father becomes her "rival". “I both want to spend time with my daughter and encouraged her to stay away from the TV, cell phones and computer games so I active engaged in  playing chess with her”, said Vy’s father.

But Vy surprised her parents and teachers for her remarkable progress after only a few months. It is known that, in 2017, after 3 months of learning to play chess, Vy won a gold medal in a tournament exclusively held for preschool children. After that, Vy joined the Da Nang Chess Club where she was guided, trained by professional teachers, hereby helping her to hone her skills.

On the day of attending the 2022 Asian Youth Chess Championship, Vy unfortunately had a fever but she still managed to overcome the challenges to bring home a gold medal in the individual blitz content. The little girl did not set any medal targets. She only thought that she would try her best to not have any regrets.

Vy said: “Even though I was very tired, I did my utmost as a way to show gratitude towards trainers and teachers who taught and took care of me during the competition. I am very happy and will try harder to gain more achievements in the time ahead.” Whenever Vy participates in an event, to keep up her spirits for each game, she always try to have the most comfortable psychology and especially, do not set a high target.

In addition to the above-mentioned excellent performances at the Bali chess tournament, Vy was ranked 7^th among the total 101 contestants at the 2022 World Youth Chess Championship held in Batumi, Georgia.

She also won golden medals in the team categories in the Southeast Asian chess tournaments in 2021 and 2022, along with a silver medal in the individual category at the Southeast Asian chess tournament in 2022 and other prizes at both international and national competitions. 

Reporting by THIEN LAM - Translating by A.THU