Le Quang Liem draws with German player at World Chess Cup

Despite facing many disadvantages when being forced into a difficult position by his opponent, Le Quang Liem still won a draw against Alexander Donchenko (Germany) in round 5 of the 2025 Chess World Cup.

On the evening of November 15 (Vietnam time), Le Quang Liem (elo 2,729) rematched Alexander Donchenko (elo 2,641) in round 5 of the World Chess Cup . With the advantage of holding the white pieces, Vietnam's number 1 player made very proactive moves to put pressure on his opponent. Notably, on the 8th move, Quang Liem made the German player "freeze" for 20 minutes before deciding to continue.

Quang Lien played very bravely. Photo: FIDE

However, in the following moves, Alexander Donchenko gained an advantage of 1 pawn over Le Quang Liem. This was the most tense moment of the game, and Quang Liem made very precise moves to defuse the situation.

In the endgame, the German player had an advantage of 3 pawns, but with his talent, Quang Liem balanced the game by capturing all 3 pawns, forcing Alexander Donchenko to accept a draw.

With a score of 1-1 after two standard chess games, Le Quang Liem and Alexander Donchenko will enter the tie-break rapid and blitz chess competition on November 16 to determine who will enter the quarter-finals of the 2025 Chess World Cup.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/le-quang-liem-hoa-nghet-tho-ky-thu-duc-o-world-cup-co-vua-2463100.html