Lai Ly Huynh creates a boost for Vietnamese chess

The historic achievement of the first world championship in standard chess by Vietnam's number 1 chess player Lai Ly Huynh is expected to create a boost to help Vietnamese chess develop more strongly.

Behind Lai Ly Huynh's spectacular usurpation

Mr. Nguyen Minh Thang, in charge of the chess department of the Vietnam Sports and Physical Training Department, said that at this world championship, although Chinese chess players are missing some of their top names such as Vuong Thien Nhat, Trieu Ham Ham, Trinh Duy Dong, they are still very confident in the next generation of talents such as Doan Thang and Manh Phon Due. These are all formidable opponents of Lai Ly Huynh.

Lai Ly Huynh returns home after the 2025 World Chess Championship

Photo: Ha Phuong

Interesting details recounted by members of the Vietnamese chess team participating in the world championship show that the host country, China, seemed ready for the coronation of the 20-year-old talent Doan Thang. That final match was brought to Shanghai by the organizers (more than 30 km away from the previous matches), an area with a large crowd. The award ceremony was also carefully and grandly prepared. However, Vietnam's number 1 chess player Lai Ly Huynh surprised everyone with a great match, turning the unfavorable situation around to win the championship in a spectacular way.

"Lai Ly Huynh made history for Vietnamese chess when he won the world championship in the standard chess category for the first time, but it must be admitted that China is still the number 1 power in chess. Lai Ly Huynh has grasped the rare opportunity very well, affirming the strength and potential of Vietnamese chess. This will be a boost and motivation for Vietnamese chess to continue to develop even more strongly," Mr. Nguyen Minh Thang shared.

Don't rest on your laurels

When talking about 35-year-old chess player Lai Ly Huynh, coaches all agree that the biggest key to his success is hard work. For nearly 20 years, the Vinh Long native has been practicing consistently for no less than 8 hours a day (except on competition days). In addition to playing against domestic players, Lai Ly Huynh spends a lot of time practicing with chess software.

To learn and improve his chess skills, Lai Ly Huynh goes to China alone every year to compete. Thanks to the interaction with the masters of Chinese chess, who are also masters of the world chess world, Lai Ly Huynh has become more and more perfect and confident when competing in world tournaments. Thanks to that, he is highly appreciated by international players. Before winning the standard chess event at the world championship, the player of Binh Duong (now Ho Chi Minh City) won the individual world rapid chess event in 2022, 2023 and the world men's team championship in 2022.

Yesterday, returning home after his feat in China, Lai Ly Huynh said he had released all the pressure to play the final match with the most relaxed mentality. Thanks to that, he was able to promote his ability, successfully neutralize the difficult situation created by his opponent to reach victory. "I am very happy with my achievement. It is even more meaningful when the day I stepped onto the highest podium coincided with my daughter's first birthday and also my wife's birthday. I will never forget this very special milestone. I also thank my Vietnamese chess lovers. Their love and support over the years has been the motivation that has helped me to constantly strive to achieve the success I have today. Right now, I consider myself not a world champion so I can continue to practice and conquer the next stage," Lai Ly Huynh shared.

To have more Lai Ly Huynh

In this world championship in China, Vietnam sent a strong force to participate. In addition to participating in the team system (men and women), Vietnamese players also competed in the youth age groups U.12, U.16 (men and women). However, in addition to the success of the men's team with the individual championship title of Lai Ly Huynh and the second place in the team by Lai Ly Huynh and Nguyen Thanh Bao, Vietnam's performance in other categories did not meet expectations.

With the achievements that Lai Ly Huynh has achieved, many people expect that Vietnamese chess will receive more investment from training, improving the quality of tournaments from youth tournaments to tournaments in the national competition system and organizing more international tournaments so that Vietnamese chess players have motivation to practice.

In recent years, Vietnamese chess has received strong support from socialization, for example, Phuong Trang Group offers very high rewards for the national championship, with 300 million VND for the championship title. Phuong Trang International Chess Tournament is also organized on a large scale, attracting many strong international players and has a prize of up to 25,000 USD (more than 600 million VND) for the championship title. When Lai Ly Huynh made Vietnamese chess famous with the world championship title, Phuong Trang Group's leaders awarded him 1.1 billion VND and 300 million VND for the coach.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lai-ly-huynh-tao-cu-hich-cho-co-tuong-viet-nam-185250928230243421.htm