Vietnam climbed from seed 47 to 19th, while Uzbekistan 2 and Mongolia also turned difficult schedules into 15 match points. Wales made a 27 place climb from seed 100.
A starting seed is a guide, not a prediction accurate to one place. The final Open table still gives us a useful way to find the teams that pushed furthest beyond where they began.
This is not simply a list of the biggest raw jumps. Oman rose 55 places from seed 163 to 108th, which deserves recognition, but moving through the lower half of a 200 team field is not the same task as reaching the leading group. For this selection I have looked at final place, match points, opposition faced and the results that produced the climb.
The four teams
| Team | Seed | Final | Places gained | Match points | Wins | Draws | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vietnam | 47 | 19 | 28 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| Uzbekistan 2 | 30 | 18 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| Mongolia | 51 | 26 | 25 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| Wales | 100 | 73 | 27 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 5 |
Final positions and match records come from the final official Open table. The selection itself is editorial judgement rather than a formal performance statistic.
Vietnam: seed 47 to 19th
Vietnam made the biggest move among the teams that finished inside the top 20. They took 15 match points with six wins, three draws and only two defeats.
The shape of the second half is what makes the finish stand out. Vietnam drew Israel in Round 8 and Iran in Round 9, beat Norway 3 to 1 in Round 10, then drew Kazakhstan in the final round. Earlier defeats to Greece and Poland stop this becoming a perfect underdog story. They also make the final place more convincing. Vietnam had to recover and keep taking points once the opposition became much stronger.
IM Nguyen Quoc Hy was central to it. He scored 8½/10 with a recorded rating performance of 2720. IM Banh Gia Huy added 8/11 with a rating performance of 2590. That is a lot of scoring from boards two and three when the pairings became difficult.
Round 10 boards against Norway · Round 11 boards against Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan 2: a second home team in the top 20
Uzbekistan 2 started 30th and finished 18th. The 12 place rise is smaller than Vietnam or Mongolia, but the results behind it are harder to ignore.
They beat Spain 2½ to 1½, drew France, beat England 2½ to 1½ and then beat the Netherlands 3½ to ½. The Netherlands started the tournament sixth. Uzbekistan 2 were third in the table after Round 9 before India and China beat them in the final two rounds.
GM Jakhongir Vakhidov scored 4/8 with a rating performance of 2677, while GM Abdimalik Abdisalimov scored 6/10 with a rating performance of 2641. GM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov played all eleven rounds and scored 6½.
Round 8 boards against England · Round 9 boards against the Netherlands
Mongolia: 25 places gained and 15 match points
Mongolia started 51st and finished 26th. They lost to the United States in Round 2, then later had defeats to Norway and Panama, but they won seven matches across the event.
The finish was strong. Mongolia beat Austria 2½ to 1½ in Round 10 and drew Greece 2 to 2 in Round 11. IM Itgelt Khuyagtsogt scored 7½/10 with a rating performance of 2498. His final round win helped rescue the draw with Greece.
Round 10 boards against Austria · Round 11 boards against Greece
Wales: a different kind of overperformance
Wales moved from seed 100 to 73rd, a gain of 27 places. They finished with 12 match points from six wins and five losses.
This is not the same level of result as Vietnam reaching 19th or Uzbekistan 2 beating several leading teams. Wales spent more of the event against opposition around their own part of the table. That distinction matters. So does the climb.
Wales beat Qatar, Guyana, Macau, China, Afghanistan and Costa Rica. CM Ifan Rathbone Jones scored 6½/9 with a rating performance of 2206, while Iwan Cave scored 6/9. The full Wales review goes into the individual games in more detail.
Read the Wales Open review · Wales Open team page
What the seed changes actually tell us
A seed change on its own can mislead. Teams near the bottom can gain dozens of places without ever reaching the leading boards, while a team starting 30th may only move twelve places but do it by beating opposition seeded inside the top ten.
That is why Vietnam is the clearest pick from this group. A 28 place rise ending in 19th, combined with 15 match points and a strong final four rounds, is a different achievement from a large numerical jump lower down the table.
Uzbekistan 2 produced the sharpest run of match results, Mongolia combined a 25 place rise with seven wins, and Wales deserve mention for turning a three figure seed into a finish in the low seventies.
Selection: these four teams are here for different reasons. Treating every seed jump as equivalent would hide more than it explains.