Vietnam took home two silver medals in team competitions and seven individual first place trophies at the Asian Nations Cup Chess Team Championship, which wrapped up in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

The event, organized by the UAE Chess Federation and Asian Chess Federation, featured three events – standard, rapid, and blitz chess.

In rapid chess, each player has a combined 15 minutes to complete their moves with 10 additional seconds added to the clock per turn. 

In blitz chess, that time is reduced to three minutes with a two-second addition each turn.

Team Vietnam won silver medals in men’s rapid chess and men’s blitz chess and a bronze medal in the women’s blitz chess event.

The men’s team consisted of some of Vietnam’s top players including grandmasters Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and young talent Nguyen Anh Khoi. Pham Le Thao Nguyen, the female player with the highest Elo rating in Vietnam, led the women’s squad.

Besides team medals, the Vietnamese players snatched a total of 11 individual medals, according to coach Lam Minh Chau.

Nguyen Thi Thanh An won the gold medal in the women’s standard event. In the rapid chess championship, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Minh Huy took home the gold for the women’s and men’s events, respectively.

Le Quang Liem and Minh Huy secured gold in the men’s blitz event, and Thanh An and Nhu Y in the women’s competition.

The four bronze medals were earned by Pham Le Thao Nguyen and Bao Tram in the women’s rapid chess; Truong Son in the men’s rapid; and Mai Hung in the women’s blitz category.

“China and India are very strong in team events, so taking home our two silvers in the team’s rapid and blitz categories was already a reach for us,” Le Quang Liem told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.