Chess 

HÀ NỘI — Grandmaster Lê Tuấn Minh of Việt Nam was the undefeated winner at the 2026 Asian Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship, which ended on July 30 in Hong Kong.

Minh won nine and drew four matches, earning 11 points to top the blitz chess category in one of the most impressive recent chess achievements for Việt Nam.

He faced seven grandmasters who are in the tournament's top 10. Among them, he beat Prraneeth Vuppala of India and Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Erdem Khubukshanov, who played under FIDE jerseys. 

He also secured draws against top seed Wang Hao and No. 5 seed Bai Jinshi, both of China.

Second and third places went to Goutham Krishna H of India and Jiang Haochen of China.

In the rapid event, Vietnamese Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên placed third with eight points, recording seven wins, two draws and two defeats after 11 matches.

She came in below Indian Harika Dronavalli and FIDE representative Anna Shukhman, who both earned 8.5 points.

Nearly 200 players competed in the championships, with a prize of US$250,000 awarded to the top 10. — VNS