After the most impressive grand opening ceremony ever, HDBank International Chess Tournament officially kicked off at Rex Hotel (Ho Chi Minh City).

Playing at home is a good motivation but also not a small pressure with talents like Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Tran Tuan Minh, Nguyen Anh Khoi. All three have to share points with weaker opponents. Truong Son (elo 2,647) had a draw with The Anh Duong (elo 2,301), Tran Tuan Minh (elo 2,556)  with Sharma Dinesh (India, elo 2,286), Anh Khoi (elo 2,484) with Praveen Kumar (India, elo 2,243).

"The first step is always the hardest" but the hope of competing for the championship remains intact with the top Viet Nam players because the race is still far away. Vietnam's No. 2 player Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son shared before the opening ceremony: "The lower elo players are not necessarily weaker, maybe because they are lack of chance to compete in high class tournament to accumulate elo. Moreover, sports in general, chess in particular always has unexpected elements. A strong player also has difficulty maintaining a high form for a long time''.

Not only the top players in Vietnam but also the seeds have not started well as No. 1 seed Wang Hao (China, elo 2,718) accepted a draw with Miciano John Marvin (Philippines, elo 2,317), 2nd seed Cheparinov Ivan (Georgia, elo 2.683) also shared a point with Vignesh B (India, elo 2,317). Meanwhile defending champion Mareco Sandro (Argentina, elo 2.666) is also the 4th seed in the tournament that has won against Pranesh M (India, elo 2.309). 3rd seed Demchenko Anton (Russian, elo 2,678 ) surpassed Indian female player Gomes Mary Ann (elo 2,312).

Tomorrow (8.3), round 2 at 9:30 am and round 3 at 15:30.