HANOI — The International Chess Tournament for the HDBank Cup 2012 will be held in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City on March 2-7, attracting nearly 100 players from 15 countries and regions, the host Vietnam Chess Federation said Wednesday.

Players will be classified after having competed in nine rounds under the round robin format with scores made in lines with the Swiss scoring system.

According to VCF, the tournament this year is rated the ever highest quality competition held so far.

It will attract 17 international grand masters and 23 international masters to compete, of whom there are ones having the Elo scores of up to 2,714.

Total awards will reach 30,000 U.S. dollars with the champions bagging 10,000 U.S. dollars.

VCF will use electronic chess boards to broadcast on the internet chess matches between players for the chess lovers to enjoy.

HDBank Cup Open Chess Tournament is the biggest annual event of this kind held by VCF and listed in the World Chess Federation (FIDE)'s competing schedules.

In its first edition in 2011, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung from Vietnam won the women's title, while Yu Yangyi from China won the top prize of the men's category. (PNA/Xinhua)

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