Top Vietnamese chess player Le Quang Liem defeated French Kevin Roser in his second match at the Tradewise Gibraltar Festival 2013 in the UK on January 24.

Liem (Elo 2705) beat his French rival after 24 moves.

In his first match, Liem narrowly defeated Spanish rival Marttala Thomas (Elo 2217) after 47 moves.

The HCM City-born player will meet Swiss Joseph G Gallagher (Elo 2499) in the next match.

The tournament has drawn nearly 350 players from 60 countries.

In another chess event, national chess grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son won in the second round of the Asian Zone 3.3 Chess Championships' Open Division in the Philippines.

Son, the former world U10 champion, on January 23 overcame the veteran Rogelio Barcenilla – representing the hosts – to claim two points from two matches. He then won Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia in the third round.-VNA