Grandmaster Le Quang Liem reveals the idea behind the historic victory

After the dramatic victory in the 4th round of the 2025 Chess World Cup on the evening of November 12, Grandmaster Le Quang Liem shared some remarkable ideas about the idea that helped him win against the host country's player.

Le Quang Liem was interviewed after his victory over the Indian player - Photo: FIDE

Grandmaster Le Quang Liem has officially written a new page in Vietnamese chess history when he excellently defeated Indian player Karthik Venkataraman, thereby, for the first time in his career, entering the round of 16 (Round 5) of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025.

This victory is not only a personal milestone but also opens up a great opportunity for Liem to aim for a spot in the Candidates.

In the second tense standard game, Le Quang Liem (Elo 2,729) holding the black pieces proved his class as a world- class player.

Sharing after the game, Liem revealed that the key to victory lay in a subtle bishop move: "The key was that I found the idea of ​​pushing the g6 pawn, moving the g7 bishop and e5 bishop. From there, I saw no way for my opponent to maintain the game."

After pushing the g6 pawn, Le Quang Liem (black) found a reasonable way to control the piece - Photo: screenshot

When preparing to make move g6, Liem only had 9 minutes left on the clock. However, it only took about 2 minutes of thinking for the 34-year-old player to come up with an idea and execute a series of moves to develop the bishop from f8 to g7, then e5 and finally f4 to create a pinning attack, a turning point that helped Liem capture more suits, creating a clear winning advantage.

Then with the f4 bishop move (Bb4), Liem had the advantage in quality - Photo: screenshot

Although the game was already over with Venkataraman having the advantage of more pieces, Venkataraman still tried to hold on. After more than 5 hours and 68 moves, the Indian player was forced to admit defeat.

With a 1.5 - 0.5 victory, Le Quang Liem not only broke the "curse" of round 4 (stopped in 2013 and 2019) but also affirmed his impressive performance. He is one of the few players to win all three matches in just two standard games without having to enter a blitz tie-break. This achievement helped him rise 5 places, reaching 17th in the world.

Quang Liem's ​​greatest joy right now is to rest: "I'm very happy because tomorrow I can rest a little and prepare for the next round. My opponent Alexander Donchenko also won today, so we both have a day off. I feel very comfortable and ready for the next match."

Liem's ​​path to the top position is wide open as many experts in the same branch such as Gukesh Dommaraju, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov or Nodirbek Abdusattorov have been eliminated. If he makes it to the Top 3 of the World Cup, Quang Liem will win a place in the Candidates - the tournament to choose the challenger for the Chess King title.

In addition, GM Quang Liem, currently the head coach of the Webster University chess team (USA), can also meet his former student Awonder Liang (Elo 2,701) if both pass round 5. Liem humorously shared:

"If we meet in the quarter-finals, whoever wins will be happy, because whoever wins will go to the semi-finals. I will be very happy if that happens."

Le Quang Liem and his opponent in the round of 16, Grandmaster Alexander Donchenko (Germany), will have a day off to prepare before entering the first leg of the round of 16 on November 14 at 4:30 p.m.

TUAN LONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dai-kien-tuong-le-quang-liem-tiet-lo-y-tuong-lam-nen-chien-thang-lich-su-20251113081550886.htm