The decisive move
The Vietnamese chess team finished the 2024 World Chess Olympiad with 25th place overall. Our team this time included many great players such as: Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Le Quang Liem, Le Tuan Minh, Tran Tuan Minh and Bang Gia Huy. "Each person competed with the highest effort to contribute to the overall result of the team because this is a team-based chess tournament. But certainly, the Bronze Medal at the individual table of Le Tuan Minh is an achievement we are very proud of. This shows that the Vietnamese players are not inferior to their opponents," said the leader of the Vietnamese chess team - Mr. Nguyen Minh Thang on the day the team returned home after the tournament.
In the final match between the Vietnamese Men's Chess Team and the Canadian Men's Chess Team, Le Tuan Minh played steadily on the second board to win against player Panjwani Raja. Le Tuan Minh's decisive move after 31 moves made Panjwani Raja accept defeat and leave the table. Olympiad is an arena that Le Tuan Minh has experienced before because for every player, participating in the competition is an honor in his career. With the 2024 Olympiad, Le Tuan Minh did more than that by winning a Bronze Medal at the individual table (the World Chess Federation FIDE has a way of calculating the performance of players based on many indicators and then summarizing the rankings). Grandmaster Le Quang Liem is someone who has competed in many international tournaments, achieved high rankings but has never won a medal when participating in the Olympiad with the Vietnamese Team.
Vietnamese chess history has recorded 4 previous people winning medals at their own table when participating in the Olympiad: Grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Gold Medal, 2014 and 2018); Pham Le Thao Nguyen (2016), Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (2016) and Hoang Thanh Trang (2002). Therefore, Le Tuan Minh became the 5th person in history to win an individual medal in this arena. At Noi Bai Airport (Hanoi) when returning home after competing in the 2024 Olympiad, Le Tuan Minh shared very briefly: “I am happy to have this result. Competing in the Olympiad is always a joy for chess players as well as the honor of wearing the national team jersey. Before competing, we entered the tournament with the most relaxed spirit and in each match we tried our best to achieve good results against the opposing players...”.
Sorry for the ASIAD results
A year ago, the Vietnamese Chess Team brought the strongest lineup to Hangzhou (China) to seek the opportunity to compete for the championship title and a historic Gold Medal at the 19th ASIAD. Everyone was waiting for that opportunity. However, we were not successful. Looking back, chess fans will not forget the decisive match between the Vietnamese Men's Chess Team and the host China. The decisive game was between Le Tuan Minh and the number one player of the Chinese team - Wei Yi. Because if we only had a draw in this game, we would have had the opportunity to surpass our teammates and touch the precious Gold Medal.
“That was the decisive moment and in the chess world, no one can predict what will happen,” coach Bui Vinh once said. In a situation where they could have tied the match and secured the score, Le Tuan Minh made a mistake that led to the final defeat. From this result, the Vietnamese men's chess team lost their advantage and ran out of steam in the remaining match.
Closing the 19th ASIAD, the Vietnamese men's chess team did not win any medals. The match between Le Tuan Minh and Wei Yi is still remembered as the experience of the Vietnamese chess team. Le Tuan Minh himself remained silent after that important match because the Hanoi player understood that he was partly responsible for missing the opportunity to achieve high results at the 19th ASIAD. In history, Vietnamese chess has never won a Gold Medal at the ASIAD arena. Therefore, people in the chess world understand Le Tuan Minh's feelings at that match. That was the first time Le Tuan Minh participated in the ASIAD arena in his career.
During his professional journey, Le Tuan Minh had the feeling of happiness when he won an important Gold Medal with the Vietnam Chess Team at the SEA Games. That moment of victory took place at the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam. More specifically, Le Tuan Minh defeated his senior Le Quang Liem in the men's individual blitz chess event to win the Gold Medal. With the same achievement, Le Tuan Minh and Le Quang Liem continued to win the Gold Medal in the men's blitz chess team for the Vietnam Chess Team.
“This is the first time I have achieved this result. I am really happy but it is true that competing at the SEA Games still has a meaning for me,” Le Tuan Minh confided when receiving the medal on the highest podium in Quang Ninh at that time. Up to now, the two Gold Medals at the 31st SEA Games are the best results that Le Tuan Minh has achieved in his professional chess career in the times he has participated in the Southeast Asian Games.
Good at culture, professional at chess
Evaluating Grandmaster Le Tuan Minh, all chess coaches of Hanoi Sports agree that this is a player who knows how to learn and is modest in his expertise. Many people know Le Tuan Minh as a good chess player, appearing in many international tournaments and being one of the international grandmasters of Vietnamese chess, but this guy is also good at foreign languages, has a degree from Hanoi Law University.
Le Tuan Minh was born and raised in Hanoi. During his school days, his classmates at the Foreign Language High School - Hanoi National University still remember him as a boy who loved chess. Le Tuan Minh could sit for hours playing chess. However, in his studies, this chess player always completed his studies well. When he entered Hanoi Law University, Tuan Minh continued to be one of the excellent students and graduated with honors.
Of course, it is never easy to combine studying culture with playing chess. What Hanoi Sports people find lucky about Le Tuan Minh is that his family supports and respects his decision in choosing a career to develop. Tuan Minh chose chess to become a professional athlete. But in the path of education, the Hanoi boy has studied and has a degree that is not inferior to anyone.
According to the usual journey, many professional chess players always get acquainted with this intellectual sport early. Le Tuan Minh is said to have started getting acquainted with chess a bit late. The player born in 1996 only achieved the title of international chess grandmaster in 2022. That is, at the age of 26, Le Tuan Minh has just achieved the prestigious title of the international chess village. According to the coaches, Le Tuan Minh is stronger than many chess players in the virtue of diligence and hard work.
For chess players, innate talent can determine whether a player is a genius or not. But if a genius does not have diligence, he will not succeed. Le Tuan Minh may not have the natural talent to be an outstanding chess player, but in return, his diligence has helped this grandmaster achieve many admirable results. With a handsome face, smooth white skin and familiar glasses, Le Tuan Minh is probably one of the few chess players who is handsome from the outside.
