Fans hope Le Quang Liem will have 'an unchanging heart in the midst of an ever-changing world'

Fans as well as the Vietnamese chess community hope that Le Quang Liem will maintain his simple and calm style, after ChessTV posted an in-depth commentary about him a few days ago.

Le Quang Liem is always loved by the Vietnamese chess community - Photo: FIDE

Right after Le Quang Liem passed the 4th round of the 2025 Chess World Cup, his name once again received praise from the world chess community.

Notably, ChessTV, a prestigious international chess website, posted an in-depth commentary, and pointed out a notable factor, which is "Le Quang Liem suffered many injustices in the top chess community".

According to ChessTV, the Vietnamese player possesses superb skills, having defeated almost all of the strongest players in the world (including the four former chess champions: Carlsen, Anand, Dinh Lap Nhan and Dommaraju).

However, Le Quang Liem is still not a truly prominent name in the top chess world, even though he is often in the world's top 20.

A typical example is the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour - the famous random chess tournament system built by chess king Carlsen - which "ignored" Le Quang Liem, but invited many players with lower strength and ranking than him to participate in the tournament.

Therefore, ChessTV believes that Le Quang Liem suffers a lot of injustice because of his calm personality, somewhat cautious and meticulous playing style, as well as being too "gentle".

"The truth is that players who take more risks, have more outstanding stories, and are also more noisy and controversial will get more attention," ChessTV commented.

ChessTV's commentary received a lot of attention from Vietnamese chess fans. But on the contrary, most fans believe that Le Quang Liem has chosen the right path, and should continue to maintain this style.

"I hope Le Quang Liem remains steadfast in the midst of the ever-changing world, and doesn't lose himself because of what people say. Please continue to maintain your own strengths," a reader named Tam commented on Tuoi Tre .

"Everything has two sides. Going slow will make you more confident. Living quietly will make less noise and attract less attention, but you will always be steadfast," commented a reader with an account named TL.

"I hope you stay calm and sober before these types of comments. If you are persistent, they will judge you for not having a breakthrough. If you have a breakthrough, they will judge you for being impatient," said reader daot****@gmail.com.

Le Quang Liem stopped before Donchenko - Photo: YT

Not only fans, Ukrainian coach Mykhailo Vasyliev, who used to work as an expert for the Vietnamese chess team, commented: "Le Quang Liem has a personality that I think is very suitable for chess, which is calm, quiet, and mature in any situation. In my experience, such players will progress very steadily."

Not long after this commentary, Le Quang Liem had to accept defeat against German player Alexander Donchenko in the 5th round of the World Cup on the evening of November 16, thereby missing the opportunity to win a ticket to the Candidates Tournament.

However, Vietnamese fans believe that Le Quang Liem did his best, in a World Cup where the strongest players were continuously eliminated.

"Even if he retires now, Le Quang Liem will still be remembered as one of the strongest chess players in the world, the one who defeated Carlsen, Nakamura, Caruana, Dinh Lap Nhan... I hope Liem will stay strong, maintain his perseverance and steadfastness as before," commented a reader named Chess1805.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nguoi-ham-mo-mong-le-quang-liem-tam-bat-bien-giua-dong-doi-van-bien-20251115080442224.htm