Vietnam GM enters quarterfinals of international chess tournament

On the third day of the tournament on Tuesday, as the group stage drew to a close, the Vietnamese grandmaster needed at least 2.5 points to qualify for the last eight, and he duly achieved it.

He drew with Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez, took advantage of a mistake in the endgame by Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi to beat him, and drew against Azerbaijani GM Teimour Radjabov and Norwegian GM Aryan Tari to advance.

In the last match he lost to Armenian GM Levon Aronian.

He had earlier lost to world champion and Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen and Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Carlsen topped the group stage with 10.5 points, followed by American GM Hikaru Nakamura a point behind. By finishing seventh with 8.5 points, Liem has avoided Carlsen in the quarterfinals and will instead play Nakamura. Nakamura is ranked fourth in the world in rapid chess and first in blitz chess.

If he beats Nakamura, he will take on the winner of the match between Iranian GM Alireza Firouzja and Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

The two-day quarterfinals involve four rapid chess matches on each day with tie-breaks to be broken by two blitz chess matches and, if still tied, an armageddon game with white getting more time on the clock. If the result is still a draw, black wins.

The quarterfinals will be played on April 27 and 28.

The New in Chess Classic is part of the Champion Chess Tour, a 10-month long series of 10 online tournaments featuring the world's top players and with prize money of $1.5 million.

It offers prize money of $100,000.

The games are played on chess24.com and broadcast on streaming site Twitch.