1st Dragon Capital Vietnam Open chess championship: IM Bitoon upsets No.2 seed Viet; So held to a draw

Vung Tau Beach

IM Richard Bitoon (2439) defeated the tournament no.2 seed and Vietnam's chess hero, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2579) to share the lead with Georgian GM Zurab Azmaiprashvili and three other players in the early lead with two wins apiece. GM Wesley so meanwhile drew his second round assignment against another Vietnamese bet, CM Nguyen Van Huy (2386) while IM Julio Catalino Sadorra (2470) lost to top seed Azmaiparashvili (2615) at the top board. Other Filipino who were victorious in the second round is 7th seed IM Rolando Nolte (2522) who bounced back from a first-round setback and crushed Nguyen Vanh Than.

In the third round, Bitoon will be pitted against 3rd seed Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem with the black pieces, while So will be facing Vietnames WFM Dan Bich Ngoc.

Nolte will be up against Huynh Mai Phuong Dung, while Sadorra faces Tran Ngoc Lan.

The time control of the tournament will be 90 minutes for the whole game with 30 seconds increment for every move starting from the first move. The official playin venue is P & T Hotel, Vung Tau, Vietnam.

Official website (Vietnamese)