In round 4, Quang Liem (elo 2,729) faced the defending champion of India, Venkataraman Karthik (elo 2,579). In the first leg of the standard chess match, the Vietnamese player drew with his opponent. In the second leg, Quang Liem was at a disadvantage with the black pieces, but with bold moves, he won after 68 moves. With this result, the Vietnamese chess grandmaster won 1.5-0.5 against Karthik Venkataraman, entering the fifth round of the 2025 World Cup.

This is the first time that Vietnamese men's chess has had a player enter the 5th round of the World Cup organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). In the 2013 and 2019 competitions, Le Quang Liem only reached the 4th round. With this historic milestone, Quang Liem received a prize of 25,000 USD.

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Quang Liem won historic victory.

Le Quang Liem is also the only Southeast Asian player to reach the 5th round. Here, the Vietnamese grandmaster met German player Alexander Donchenko. Quang Liem's ​​opponent has an elo coefficient of 2641, ranked 82nd in the world standard chess.

In the most recent encounter at the Biel Chess Festival 2024 in the Netherlands, Alexander Donchenko drew with Le Quang Liem. Alexander Donchenko's performance at the 2025 Chess World Cup was very good, winning all 4 matches in standard chess. The match between the two players took place on November 14.

The 2025 World Cup for men will feature 206 players. Le Quang Liem has officially qualified for the tournament as he is among the top 20 players on the FIDE rankings. The total prize money for the tournament is 2 million USD. The champion will be awarded 120,000 USD.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/le-quang-liem-lam-nen-lich-su-o-world-cup-co-vua-2462278.html