Vietnamese chess and the miracle named Lai Ly Huynh

By brilliantly defeating Chinese chess prodigy Doan Thang to win the world championship right at the cradle of this intellectual sport, Lai Ly Huynh not only created history for Vietnamese chess, but also broke China's monopoly.

In the final match of the standard chess match, Lai Ly Huynh and Doan Thang had 60 minutes and 30 seconds for each move. According to the computer analysis, the Chinese player was very close to victory. "However, in the decisive moments of tension, the 20-year-old player of the host country missed a few opportunities, creating a chaotic situation. Then Lai Ly Huynh made more precise moves and won spectacularly," said coach Diep Khai Nguyen.

Thus, without needing 10 minutes of rapid chess and 5 seconds for a move (in case of a draw in a standard game), Lai Ly Huynh overcame Doan Thang in a standard game to win the championship, even though he was at a disadvantage when holding the black pieces and had to go later. At the same time, the 1990-born player also overcame the sadness of losing to Manh Than in the final match two years ago in the US, even though at that time, he had many advantages to win the championship.

"The victory was a combination of the ability to overcome psychological pressure and a bit of luck, because Doan Thang missed a few opportunities to end the match," said journalist Huu Binh. According to Mr. Binh, this was an extremely tense match both mentally and professionally. After the opening, the opponent sacrificed a cannon in exchange for a bishop and received an offensive position.

Lai Ly Huynh, with his experience, released his pieces to regain the initiative and continuously attacked, forcing the opponent to lose the position. The rook and knight were held back and could not make advantageous moves to turn the situation around. He accepted defeat and created this feat.

According to experts, Lai Ly Huynh is a rare gem in Vietnamese chess. Photo: Huu Binh

Lai Ly Huynh's success in Shanghai is the result of his special talent, combined with a serious training process and a will to constantly improve. He was painfully defeated by Manh Than in the 2023 world finals, but he was not discouraged and continued to study the difficult chess positions of his opponents from China, to find ways to counter them and create new moves.

According to journalist Huu Binh, Lai Ly Huynh possesses an extremely rare memory. He once played blind chess (without looking at the board, just reading the moves) with 10 people at the same time and still won. The 35-year-old player also participated in the Vietnam Super Brain program, overcoming extremely difficult challenges from the judges such as memorizing 100 different chess positions within 10 minutes.

He located a change of one move on three randomly selected chessboards. Next, at a more difficult level, Lai Ly Huynh used his imagination and super memory to recover three-fifths of the chessboard just by listening to the referee read eight random moves on each board.

This challenge was considered more difficult than playing chess with 10 people at the same time, but Lai Ly Huynh still conquered it successfully. Innate qualities, combined with hard work and practice, helped Lai Ly Huynh have a deep, broad and seamless calculation system. Rich imagination combined with logic helped the 1990-born player to be both creative and tight in his moves.

Lai Ly Huynh won the championship thanks to his bravery, class and ability to seize the golden opportunity against the Chinese players. However, for this victory to surpass its personal value and help Vietnamese chess develop further in the future, there needs to be a stronger and more comprehensive investment in the players so that Vietnamese chess can develop its potential and maintain its position in the international arena.

According to experts, Lai Ly Huynh is a rare gem in Vietnamese chess, but if young players have the same professionalism and determination as Huynh, we can hope to have other Lai Ly Huynhs. Currently, young players have access to modern chess training software, more abundant books and documents. There are more clubs and tournaments to compete with.

At the same time, the players also receive attention from sports management agencies, higher income, more support from businesses, fans and more developed media. These factors are the foundation for Lai Ly Huynh and his teammates to maintain their success.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/co-tuong-viet-nam-va-ky-tich-mang-ten-lai-ly-huynh-20250929143134558.htm