Apart from Le Quang Liem who recently won the 2011 Spice Cup tournament in Texas, USA, the other 11 players are training at the Ho Chi Minh City sports training centre for the region’s largest sporting event.

Chess was first included in the list of competing sports at the 2003 SEA Games held in Vietnam where host chess players bagged 4 gold medals.

Two years later, Vietnamese players set a record of eight gold medals at another SEA Games held in the Philippines.