On May 11, the Vietnam Chess Federation announced the list of men's and women's teams participating in the 2026 Olympiad. The men's team includes chess players Banh Gia Huy, Dau Khuong Duy, Dang Hoang Son, Pham Tran Gia Phuc and Duong Vu Anh. The women's team includes Vo Thi Kim Phung, Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, Nguyen Hong Anh and Nguyen Binh Vy.
Notably, the women's team does not have the presence of Pham Le Thao Nguyen and Luong Phuong Hanh. Among them, Thao Nguyen is currently the No. 1 female player in Vietnam on the FIDE rankings with elo rating 2.348, and is also the defending national rapid chess and blitz chess champion. Phuong Hanh currently holds the national championship title in the standard chess event.
According to research, the chess department under the Vietnam National Sports Administration sent a notice of registration to participate in the 2026 Olympiad on May 9th and continued to reiterate the registration deadline to 5:00 PM on May 10th. However, by about 8:00 PM on the same day, the coach representing Pham Le Thao Nguyen and Luong Phuong Hanh had just completed registration, so it was not accepted.
Sharing about the incident, Pham Le Thao Nguyen said that because it was the weekend, the coach was busy with personal matters, communication was interrupted and registration was only completed about 3 hours after the notification deadline.
Mr. Nguyen Minh Thang - Vice President cum General Secretary of the Vietnam Chess Federation confirmed that the two chess players registered late, so they were not included in the list to participate in the 2026 Olympiad.
Previously, the men's team also lacked three top players including Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Le Tuan Minh.
Le Quang Liem said he is ready to arrange his schedule to participate if the team gathers the strongest force. "In a team tournament like the Olympiad, competitiveness depends on the overall strength of the whole team," Vietnam's No. 1 chess player shared.
Many coaches believe that the official registration deadline for the tournament organizers is still until May 15, so professional units can consider flexible options to ensure the strongest force for the Vietnamese women's team at the 2026 Olympiad, taking place from September 15 to 28 in Uzbekistan.
