Congratulations to the Vietnam Chinese Chess team who just returned from Macau with the top prizes proudly in their hands.

Nguyễn Hoàng Lâm & Ngô Lan Hương - vnexpress

Vietnamese players took two gold medals in the men’s and women’s contests at the 15th Asian Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) Individual Championships that ended in Macau on Friday.
In the men’s event, Vietnam’s number one Nguyen Thanh Bao stayed at home to prepare for the World Chinese Chess Championships in Indonesia late this month.

However, Nguyen Hoang Lam and Bui Duong Tran upset all the big rivals before playing the all-Vietnamese final men’s individual match; and Lam beat Tran to win the gold.

The Chinese players Wang Yue Fei and five-time world champion Lu Qin were the favorites for the title, but they failed to advance to the semifinals.

Vietnamese female player Ngo Lan Huong lost to China’s Chen Li Chun in the women’s individual group stage but beat Chen in the final match to win the gold medal.

This is the first time the Vietnamese chess players have won the gold medals since the Asian Chinese Chess Championships were launched in 1980.

The Chinese Chess event this year attracted 20 male and 10 female players from 16 countries and territories, including Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, India, Australia and hosts China.