Vietnamese grandmaster defeats world number six in US chess tour

By Hoang Nguyen, Xuan BinhAugust 11, 2021 | 11:48 pm PT
Vietnamese grandmaster defeats world number six in US chess tour
Le Quang Liem (R) plays Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, U.S., on August 12, 2021. Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour.
Le Quang Liem finished his first day at Saint Loius Rapid & Blitz 2021 in the U.S. with a victory over Azerbaijani grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Liem began with a draw against American grandmaster Wesley So, who had just beaten him in the final of Chessable Masters on Monday.

In the second game, Liem lost to world number two, Italian-American Fabiano Caruana, after making a blunder. The last game saw Liem playing a near-perfect game against Mamedyarov, world number six. His accuracy percentage was 95 percent, while Mamedyarow only hit 12 percent. Liem made the most of Mamedyarov’s mistakes to wrap up the game after only 23 moves.

With one win, a draw and one loss, Liem on three points peaked fifth along with Mamedyarov and Hungary’s Richard Rapport. In the lead are Caruana and Cuban-American player Leinier Dominguez with five points each, followed by Japan’s Hikaru Nakamura and So with four points each. In last place with one point each are Peter Svidler (Russia), Jeffery Xiong and Sam Shankland (U.S.).

On Friday, Liem will continue to play Nakamura, Svidler and Rapport.

From Aug. 11 to 15, players will engage in nine rounds of rapid and 18 rounds of blitz chess for a total prize pool of $150,000. The champion would get $37,000 while the last place pockets $6,000.

Saint Loius 2021 is the third and final rapid and blitz event of Grand Chess Tour (GCT), a series of two classical and three rapid and blitz tournaments. Participants are eligible to earn tour points in these events. At the end of GCT, the top three with the most tour points would receive a bonus $175,000.

 
 
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