Vietnam GM leads as int'l chess cup opens

On day 1 of the Charity Cup, the second tournament of the grand series Champion Chess Tour (CCT), Liem beat China’s Lei Tingjie and India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and drew the third game with Spain’s David Anton.

This is the biggest achievement ever by the 31-year-old Vietnamese grandmaster on the Champions Chess Tour.

He now shares the top spot with American Hans Moke Niemann, who also earned 10 points on the first day, leaving China’s Ding Liren in third position.

Liem’s task is to stay in the top 8 to reach the quarterfinals.

The Charity Cup is taking place March 19-26 with 16 players competing in the first stage in a round-robin format. Players are awarded $750 for every game won and $250 for a draw.

The top eight players of the first stage will advance to the knockout stage that features four-game matches, one each for the quarterfinals and semi-finals, and two such matches for the final. If still tied, two blitz games will follow, and, if needed, an Armageddon game, where white has five minutes to black’s four, but black only needs a draw to win. The winner will pocket $25,000.