Who is Lai Li Huang?
Lai Li Huynh has just won the world chess championship in the men's standard chess event. He became the first player from Vietnam to win this event, breaking China's monopoly for more than 3 decades.
Born in 1990 in Vinh Long, Lai Ly Huynh spent a difficult childhood. Due to family circumstances, he had to go with his family to Ca Mau to make a living. Due to economic circumstances, he dropped out of school early in 4th grade. His family once guided him to another profession, but Lai Ly Huynh was only passionate about chess, often sitting at the chess tables to watch adults compete.
Fortunately, his father was also passionate about this subject and was the first teacher to lead him to chess. Thanks to his talent, passion and the guidance of coach Nguyen Thanh Khiet since 2002, Lai Ly Huynh soon showed his talent.
He played for the Ca Mau youth team and quickly achieved success with the national youth championship in 2003. This is the launching pad for Lai Li Huynh to confidently step up to the Vietnamese throne, creating a series of impressive achievements.
Up to now, Lai Ly Huynh has won the Vietnam championship 6 times in the standard chess event, a result only inferior to his senior Tranh A Sang. In addition, the player born in 1990 was crowned 10 times in the rapid chess and light chess events, thereby ranking No. 1 in the history of Vietnamese chess.
At the international level, Lai Li Huynh started participating in the 2008 Asian Youth Championship and won a silver medal at the U18 age group. In 2009, he participated in a world tournament for the first time and excellently finished 7th overall.
With a calm, unique playing style, knowing how to take advantage of the strengths of technology, strong spirit, Lai Ly Huynh has built a comprehensive, solid playing style from the beginning, middle, and end. Continuous confrontations with the world's top players in recent years have helped Lai Li Huynh practice more courage and perfect his expertise.
nicknamed "Au duong cong tu", for the past few years Lai Ly Huynh has been a famous name in the international arena when he won the world chess championship in 2022, 2023; crowned world team champion in 2023 (with Nguyen Thanh Bao).
However, Lai Li Huang was never satisfied with himself. His goal is the World Standard Chess Championship - the most prestigious event of world chess.
From psychological shock to gambling in life
Lai Li Huang was very close to winning the World standard chess championship in 2003, when he met Chinese powerhouse. At that time, the Vietnamese players dominated, but were then held to a draw and lost after a tie-break.
"The loss to Manh Than in 2003 was a psychological shock for me. But I always sow hope in myself, because people always have their lucky star. For the past two years, I have been trying constantly, focusing on training, perfecting my expertise, waiting for the opportunity, Lai Ly Huynh said when he returned to Vietnam on the evening of September 28.
In the recent final match in Shanghai, Lai Li Huang met Doan Thang - a talented Chinese player in the final. Despite the organizers moving the match to another location, 35 km from the old location, with the belief that Doan Thang would be crowned, Lai Ly Huynh played with great courage. He calmly dealt with the opponent's strong start, gradually setting up a strong game, taking advantage of the opponent's mistakes to bring home a resounding victory.
Lai Ly Huynh confided that the final match was his "fishing rod of life", when he had moments of anxiety, but knew how to put all pressure aside, to bring glory to the Vietnamese chessboard. According to Lai Li Huynh, winning the championship right in China brought him a special feeling, having broken the dominance of Chinese players over the past decades.
Standing at the top of the storm, Lai Li Huynh emphasized that he will not rest on his laurels. He said: The world championship is a goal that everyone always dreams of, but it will also make you sleep on the victory.
But I will continue to sow my desire to compete, always thinking that I have not won the championship. That will be my motivation to compete at my highest level".
