On May 13, the Vietnam Chess Federation for the first time issued an official announcement on the selection of chess players to participate in the International Team Chess Olympiad 2026.
The announcement reads: "The Vietnam Chess Federation initially registered a preliminary list to participate in the 2026 Olympiad, including the men's team: Banh Gia Huy, Dau Khuong Duy, Dang Hoang Son, Pham Tran Gia Phuc, Duong Vu Anh.
Women's team: Vo Thi Kim Phung, Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, Nguyen Hong Anh, Nguyen Binh Vy".
The content added: "This is an initial exploration to coaches and athletes, the Vietnam Chess Federation continues to send documents to units with coaches and athletes participating to ask for opinions.
After the Vietnam Chess Federation receives feedback from units, the Vietnam Chess Federation will send a document proposing the list of the Vietnamese chess team to report to the leaders of the Vietnam Sports Administration for consideration".
Thus, the proposed list does not include grandmasters such as Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Luong Phuong Hanh, Le Tuan Minh, Tran Tuan Minh, and Le Quang Liem.
Two absences that have been noticed recently are Le Quang Liem and Pham Le Thao Nguyen. Grandmaster Le Quang Liem stated the reason for his absence from the 2026 Olympiad in his personal Facebook page. At the same time, this grandmaster affirmed his respect for the decision of the Vietnam Chess Federation.
In the case of grandmaster Pham Le Thao Nguyen, her absence is said to be due to accidentally registering because she did not pay attention to the message from the Vietnam Chess Federation to confirm her participation in the 2026 Olympiad.
Currently, the official registration time for the team to participate in the 2026 Olympiad is still allowed by FIDE at this time.
