According to the latest ranking, Vietnam currently has 3 players under 18 years old with elo ratings above 2400 - a level equivalent to the International Masters (IM) standard. Three outstanding faces include Dau Khuong Duy (14 years old, elo rating 2,490), Pham Tran Gia Phuc (16 years old, elo rating 2,449) and Banh Gia Huy (16 years old, elo rating 2,436), according to international age.
In the current chess competition system, FIDE stipulates that the "junior" group is players under 20 years old. However, in recent years, many opinions suggest that this milestone should be adjusted down to U18.
If applying the U18 classification method, the number of countries owning 3 or more players meeting the International Master standard in this age group is not large. The four leading powers of the world chess scene including the US, China, Russia and India still maintain a strong young force with many successor talents.
Notably, according to statistics from FIDE, Germany - the country currently ranked 5th in the team rankings also only has 3 international players of minor age. Meanwhile, France (ranked 6th) only has one U18 player meeting IM standards, while countries behind such as Ukraine or the Netherlands even do not have any representatives in this group. Uzbekistan also only has 2 minor players meeting similar standards.
Thus, with 3 young chess players surpassing the elo 2.400 mark, Vietnam is currently on par with Germany in the number of international Grandmasters in the U18 age group, thereby joining the group of 5 countries with the most promising young chess forces in the world, only behind traditional superpowers.
Among these, Dau Khuong Duy is impressing with remarkable professional progress. When put on the scale to compare with Le Quang Liem's age, the 14-year-old player is assessed to have made rapid progress, promising to become a successor in the peak group of Vietnamese chess in the future.
