Vietnam chess grandmaster to play Chinese number one

By Xuan Binh February 19, 2022 | 01:00 am PT

The participants of the 2022 Airthings Masters. Photo by chess24

Le Quang Liem will face many strong opponents in the online tournament Airthings Masters, including China’s top player Ding Liren.

Airthings Masters is the first tournament of the grand series 2022 Champion Chess Tour. The event will take place from Feb. 19 to 26 with 16 players, of which six are in the world’s top 10. Chess king Magnus Carlsen will also participate in the event.

Sixteen players will battle it out in the first stage before eight advance to the knockout stage.

The prize pool for this event is $150,000, with the champion pocketing $25,000. A player will get $750 for a win and $250 for a draw.

Each player will have 15 minutes per match, with 10 seconds added after each move.

If Liem can make it past the first stage of Airthings Masters, his chance of competing in the next events of Champion Chess Tour will be higher.

Liem, the eighth seed, will face India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Vladislav Artemiev of Russia, Canada’s Eric Hansen and Ding Liren on Sunday. He will encounter Carlsen two days later.