Le Quang Liem 's ​​opponent (elo 2729) in Round 5 of the 2025 Chess World Cup has an Elo rating of 2641, ranking 82nd in the world in standard chess. In their most recent encounter at the 2024 Biel Chess Festival in the Netherlands, Alexander Donchenko and Le Quang Liem drew. Alexander Donchenko's form in the 2025 Chess World Cup is excellent, having won all four of his standard chess matches.

With the advantage of playing with the white pieces (going first), Alexander Donchenko proactively played an attacking game against Le Quang Liem. This proactive style had previously helped the German player defeat the 4th seed Anish Giri (Netherlands), but this time it was against a tenacious Le Quang Liem.

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Le Quang Liem shared the points with his opponent despite leading the team.

Vietnam's number one chess player, playing with the black pieces, played cautiously with each move. Quang Liem made very clever moves that prevented his opponent from taking advantage. After 31 moves, the two players agreed to a draw.

With this result, Le Quang Liem and Alexander Donchenko will face each other again in the return match on November 15th. If they draw again, they will have to settle the match with a tie-break in rapid or blitz chess. The overall winner will advance to the quarterfinals.

The 2025 Men's World Cup will bring together 206 players and offer a total prize pool of $2 million. Le Quang Liem secured his place by being among the top 20 ranked players on the FIDE rankings.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/le-quang-liem-chia-diem-with-ky-thu-duc-o-world-cup-co-vua-2462879.html