Le Quang Liem stopped the tie-break series of round 5 of the Chess World Cup, received 38,500 USD

(NLDO) – After drawing two standard chess games with Alexander Donchenko, Le Quang Liem unexpectedly lost in the tie-break and stopped at the 2025 Chess World Cup.

The miracle did not continue to happen to Vietnam's number 1 player in this year's World Cup when Le Quang Liem had to stop before "big killer" Alexander Donchenko in round 5.

Donchenko overcame 4th seed Giri Anish in round 3 and now he continues to "sow sorrow" for 13th seed Le Quang Liem, who is also the highest Elo remaining in the lower bracket, to win a ticket to the quarterfinals.

Le Quang Liem and Alexander Donchenko faced each other 6 times in tie-break series

Known as one of the most promising young players in Europe at the moment, Donchenko possesses a decisive, attacking style of play, ready to cause trouble for all opponents regardless of the difference in class. This style of play almost helped Donchenko close out round 5 right from the second standard game if he hadn't miscalculated a very advantageous move in the endgame against Le Quang Liem.

Le Quang Liem lost to Donchenko

Having just celebrated Le Quang Liem's ​​"escaped" victory to force his opponent into a tie-break, Vietnamese fans were constantly heartbroken with their favorite player when Liem let his opponent take the lead twice in rapid chess games, although he still managed to equalize.

Continuing to draw in the first blitz game, Le Quang Liem's ​​efforts went up in smoke when he lost after 48 moves in the second blitz game.

Six games in about 5 hours took a lot of energy from the two players and youth was probably the very important factor that brought success to Alexander Donchenko in this "marathon match".

Donchenko - "big boss killer"

Fans have been experiencing all sorts of emotions while watching Le Quang Liem's ​​matches online these past few days, which are as exciting as World Cup football matches, as many famous chess forums in the country jokingly say.

Le Quang Liem left the World Cup with a small achievement and a prize of 38,500 USD. He also gained 2.2 Elo points, increasing his standard chess rating to 2,731.2 and ranking 18th in the world.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/le-quang-liem-dung-chan-o-vong-5-world-cup-co-vua-nhan-38500-usd-196251116221000385.htm