Le Quang Liem entered the 4th round of the Chess World Cup for the 3rd time in history

Vietnam's No. 1 chess player - Le Quang Liem has successfully entered the 4th round of the 2025 Chess World Cup after a convincing 1.5 - 0.5 victory over young American grandmaster Jeffery Xiong.

Le Quang Liem (right) officially entered the 4th round of the Chess World Cup - Photo: FIDE

With a 1-0 lead after the first match, Grandmaster Le Quang Liem entered the second match cautiously but with full concentration. He chose to start the match with an opening move.

Although there were times when Jeffery Xiong, born in 2000, created a small advantage, Le Quang Liem showed his rich experience. He calmly handled the situation, skillfully eliminated all threats, and brought the game back to a state of balance.

Quang Liem's ​​decisive tactic was to actively change pieces continuously, leading to an endgame with two bishops of different colors.

In chess, the opposite-colored bishop endgame is considered a near-perfect draw if neither side makes a fundamental mistake.

Realizing that there was no chance of winning to tie the score, American grandmaster Jeffery Xiong accepted to end the game in a draw.

Le Quang Liem (white) will use the next move to capture the queen with a pawn, leading to an endgame with 2 bishops of different colors - Screenshot

The 1.5 - 0.5 victory helped Le Quang Liem officially advance to the fourth round, while avoiding the stressful and unlucky tie-break series. This gave him two precious days off to recover his strength and prepare his tactics for the next round.

Le Quang Liem's ​​opponent in round 4 will be the winner of the match between Bogdan - Daniel Deac (Romania, Elo 2655) and Karthik Venkataraman (India, 2576).

Le Quang Liem's ​​fourth round match will begin at 4:30 p.m. on November 11 (Vietnam time). Vietnamese chess fans are hoping that Liem will continue to write history, winning a ticket to the quarterfinals of the Chess World Cup for the first time.

The Chess World Cup takes place every two years in a knockout format , bringing together 206 players. The tournament runs from November 1 to November 27 in Goa, India, with a total prize pool of $2 million (the champion receives $120,000).

More importantly, the 2025 World Cup will select three places to participate in the 2026 Candidates Tournament - the tournament that will decide the challenger for the chess throne.

Some of the world's top grandmasters such as defending champion Magnus Carlsen, along with Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, were absent because they had already secured or were almost certain to qualify for the Candidates.

Each match will last for a maximum of three days, consisting of two standard games. In the event of a draw, the players will play a rapid and blitz tie-break on the third day to determine the winner.

TUAN LONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/le-quang-liem-lan-thu-3-trong-lich-su-vao-vong-4-world-cup-co-vua-20251108211814955.htm