Chess grandmaster ties in 6th, 7th rounds of World Open

Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem (Photo: vnecdn.net)

Hanoi (VNA)  - Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem had draws in both the sixth and seventh rounds of the World Open 2017 chess tournament in the US on July 3.

Liem, who has Elo rating of 2727, tied with Yaroslav Zherebukh of America, Elo 2642 and Oliver Barbosa of the Philippines, Elo 2511.

After seven rounds, Liem gained 5.5 points to rank second in the Open category. Jianchao of China topped the group. Zhou beat Farai Mandizha of Zimbabwe and Holden Hernandez of America to have six points.

Liem defeated Zhou in the fifth round.

The World Open featured many Elo-based categories of competition with a total prize pot of 225,000 USD. Liem will stand to pocket 20,000 USD if he is crowned the overall champion of the Open section.

The tournament, which finishes on July 5, functions as a buffer for Liem to reclaim his form after being absent from top-tier international competitions for a long time, as he focused on his academic studies at Webster University in the US.

It also helps the Vietnamese star to warm up in preparation for the Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament, to be held in China on July 8-19. The 11-day event will be a 10-player round-robin, featuring many famous players.-VNA