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

Le Quang Liem (R) plays Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, U.S., on August 12, 2021.

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.

Grandmaster Le Quang Liem qualifies for New in Chess Classic quarterfinals

Vietnamese chess ace Le Quang Liem has booked his place in the quarterfinals of the ongoing New in Chess Classic – the fifth stage of the US$1.5 million 2021 Champions Chess Tour – after concluding his qualifying campaign in seventh place with 8.5 points from a total of 15 matches.

Grandmaster Le Quang Liem to compete in fifth stage of Champions Chess Tour

Vietnam’s no. 1 chess player, Le Quang Liem, will again have the chance to clash with chess king Magnus Carlsen as he has been invited to participate in the fifth stage of the 2021 Champions Chess Tour, to be played online on Chess 24 from April 24 to May 2.

Vietnam grandmaster to coach American university chess team

Grandmaster Le Quang Liem has been appointed the new coach of the Webster University in Missouri starting this June.

Source: VnExpress