Opportunity for Le Quang Liem

VHO - This afternoon, November 14, in Goa (India), Vietnam's No. 1 chess player - Le Quang Liem will enter the 5th round of the World Chess Cup (FIDE World Cup 2025) against Alexander Donchenko (Germany).

On the way to round 5, Quang Liem (Elo 2,729) defeated Baadur Jobava (Georgia, Elo 2,573) in round 2, Jeffery Xiong (USA, Elo 2,648) in round 3 and Venkataraman Karthik (India, Elo 2,579) in round 4.

Quang Liem is in good form at the tournament.

In rounds 3 and 4, Quang Liem was held to a draw in round 1 when he went first, then excellently defeated his opponents when he went second in round 2.

This excellent result helps Vietnam's number 1 player enter the 5th round for the first time in his career for the 16 best players.

Previously, Quang Liem participated in the Chess World Cup many times and his best results were in the 4th round in 2013 and 2019.

Opportunity for Quang Liem when in round 5 he only meets the opponent rated lower than Alexander Donchenko (Elo 2,641) who is outside the world top 50.

With stable form and excitement after reaching round 5 for the first time, Quang Liem is expected to win.

However, Vietnam's number 1 player will have to be very careful because Donchenko is also in good form.

On the way to round 5, Donchenko created an earthquake when he eliminated the tournament's number 4 seed, Anish Giri (Netherlands), in round 3.

Vietnam's No. 1 chess player is expected to continue to go deep in the tournament.

In the most recent encounter at the Biel Chess Festival 2024 in the Netherlands, the two players were evenly matched.

According to experts, Quang Liem is facing the opportunity to advance straight to the semi-finals of the 2025 World Cup as the player with the highest Elo rating in his bracket.

At the 2025 Chess World Cup, the three best players will qualify for the Candidates Tournament - a tournament to select the best players to challenge chess king Gukesh (India) for the world championship.

Quang Liem has never participated in the Candidates Tournament and this is a great opportunity for the 1991-born player to create a new milestone in his career.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/co-hoi-cho-le-quang-liem-181274.html