Vietnamese grandmaster finishes in top five of US chess tournament

Liem won four, drew three and lost two matches on the last day Monday, earning 5.5 points. A day prior, he had earned six points to escape the last place.

The 30-year-old finished the tournament with a total of 17.5 points to remain in fifth. Japanese American Haruki Nakamura came first with 24 points, followed by Italian-American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana (21 points) and Hungary's Richard Rapport (19.5 points).

In the fifth position, Liem received $12,500. With $15,000 earned from finishing second in Chessable Masters before, he has pocketed $27,500 of prize money in August.

The impressive performances in the blitz chess games also pushed Liem to 14th in the blitz world rankings with an Elo rating of 2,774.

In the rapid chess competition of the tournament, Liem only accumulated six out of 18 points to peak last. However, he came back stronger in the blitz chess competition.

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 the GCT, the top three players with the most tour points will receive a bonus of $175,000.

Liem’s best result at a GCT tournament was at Superbet 2019 in Romania, where he finished fourth with 19 points.