Today's match schedule worth waiting for: Le Quang Liem continues to make his mark in the world chess village

Vietnam's No. 1 chess player Le Quang Liem was praised after his historic achievement, when he advanced for the first time in the 2025 Chess World Cup - a large-scale playground held every two years.

MAINTAIN HIGH AND STABLE PERFORMANCE

Le Quang Liem is a rare face of Vietnamese sports in general, and Vietnamese chess in particular, who has maintained his peak performance for a long time. For more than 12 years, the Ho Chi Minh City chess player has maintained the No. 1 position in Vietnamese chess, maintaining the elo milestone in the 2,700 group on the World Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings.

Le Quang Liem at the 2025 Chess World Cup in India

PHOTO: FIDE

At present, there are only 33 players in the world with an elo of 2,700 or higher. To maintain this level of elo, players must have good performance, otherwise they will lose elo and be demoted. Le Quang Liem is truly admirable for maintaining a high ranking for such a long time.

At the 2025 Chess World Cup taking place in India, Le Quang Liem (elo 2,729) continued to assert his talent by defeating Baadur Jobava (Georgia, elo 2,573), Jeffery Xiong (USA, elo 2,648), Venkataraman Karthik (India, elo 2,579). This excellent result helped the number 1 Vietnamese player enter the 5th round for the first time in his career for the 16 best players. Previously, Le Quang Liem participated in the Chess World Cup many times and his best result was reaching the 4th round.

According to the coaches' assessment, Le Quang Liem's ​​biggest mark at this Chess World Cup is playing very well when holding the black pieces. Holding the black pieces with the disadvantage of going later does not cause any difficulty for Le Quang Liem. He created a pleasant surprise when he won all the games in which he held the black pieces, up to the present time at the 2025 Chess World Cup. In which, the best match was the victory against the reigning Indian chess champion Venkataraman Karthik in round 4. The home player played very well in the return leg, but Le Quang Liem with sharp moves in the middle game forced Karthik to give up and lose.

READY TO CROSS THE MOUNTAIN

Happy with the smooth journey at the 2025 Chess World Cup, Le Quang Liem said he spent the whole day off (November 13) to prepare professionally for the match in round 5 taking place today. Liem will face player Alexander Donchenko (Germany, elo 2,641).

Le Quang Liem at the 2025 Chess World Cup in India

PHOTO: FIDE

"Alexander Donchenko is very strong. Defeating two high-seeded opponents, Anish Giri (Netherlands) in round 3 and Matthias Bluebaum (Germany) in round 4 shows that Alexander Donchenko is in good form. I prepared very carefully to be ready for the encounter with this player," said Le Quang Liem.

Aiming to do the best in each match, however, with the unexpected and unpredictable developments at the 2025 Chess World Cup when many strong players stopped early, Le Quang Liem will have to concentrate highly. Coaches assess that if he continues to play explosively, Vietnam's No. 1 player has a great chance of reaching the semi-finals, even ready to compete for the championship.

Another goal that Le Quang Liem and the players participating in the 2025 Chess World Cup are aiming for is the top 3 finalists. Because the 3 best players in this World Cup will qualify for the Candidates - the tournament to select the best players to challenge the chess king Gukesh (India) for the world championship.

On the regularly updated FIDE rankings, Le Quang Liem has accumulated 4 more elo, reaching a total of 2,733 and rising 5 places, from 22nd to 17th in the world. If he continues to compete successfully in this World Cup, Liem has the opportunity to surpass the 2,741 elo milestone he achieved in 2013. Le Quang Liem's ​​success as head coach of the Webster University chess team (USA) while competing at the top level is an example for many young Vietnamese chess players.

Sharing with the media in India, Le Quang Liem expressed his joy that chess is developing strongly in Vietnam and there are many promising young talents. He hopes that young players will have the opportunity to develop their full potential and have a good journey in conquering the international chess world.

N GET "HUGE" BONUS

The 2025 Chess World Cup has a total prize money of up to 2 million USD (about 52 billion VND). By reaching round 5, Le Quang Liem will receive a prize of at least 25,000 USD (about 650 million VND). If reaching round 6 (quarter-finals), Le Quang Liem will receive 35,000 USD (about 910 million VND). The prize money for the champion is 120,000 USD (about 3.1 billion VND).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lich-thi-dau-dang-cho-doi-hom-nay-le-quang-liem-tiep-tuc-ghi-dau-an-trong-lang-co-vua-the-gioi-185251113225726129.htm