Le Quang Liem had a spectacular escape at the Chess World Cup

Despite being under constant pressure from his opponent, Vietnam's number 1 chess player Le Quang Liem still successfully escaped in the second leg of round 5 of the 2025 Chess World Cup in India.

Le Quang Liem narrowly escaped defeat

The rematch between Le Quang Liem (elo 2,729) and Alexander Donchenko (elo 2,641) in round 5 of the World Chess Cup took place today with great tension. With the advantage of holding the white pieces (going first), Vietnam's number 1 player proactively played quickly to put time pressure on his opponent.

Le Quang Liem (left) almost lost to Alexander Donchenko in the second leg of round 5 of the 2025 Chess World Cup today.

PHOTO: FIDE

Right on the 8th move, Le Quang Liem made Alexander Donchenko take nearly 20 minutes to think. The German player showed why he was capable of advancing to round 5 after eliminating many strong opponents such as Anish Giri (Netherlands, seed number 4) by gradually dispelling the pressure from Le Quang Liem.

In the end, Alexander Donchenko even created a slightly better position with an advantage of 1 more pawn than Le Quang Liem. In a situation where just one mistake would put him at great risk of being eliminated, Le Quang Liem made precise moves "like a computer" to help him balance the game.

Le Quang Liem will compete in rapid and blitz chess tie-breaks with Alexander Donchenko tomorrow for a ticket to the quarter-finals of the 2025 Chess World Cup.

PHOTO: FIDE

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief after regaining the balance of the game, Le Quang Liem missed a move and was pressured and attacked strongly by Alexander Donchenko. In the endgame, the German player had an advantage of 3 pawns over Le Quang Liem and most coaches thought that the number 1 Vietnamese player had no way back. Facing a rare opportunity to win against Le Quang Liem, Alexander Donchenko continuously made inaccurate moves. Thanks to that, Le Quang Liem captured all 3 pawns, forcing Alexander Donchenko to shake hands and draw.

After a spectacular escape in the second leg against Alexander Donchenko, Le Quang Liem and his opponent were tied 1-1 after two standard games. Both will enter the tie-break match of rapid chess and blitz chess tomorrow to decide who will move on to the quarter-finals.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/le-quang-liem-thoat-hiem-ngoan-muc-o-world-cup-co-vua-185251115181037316.htm