Vietnam’s top chess player Le Quang Liem came out in third place overall with five points at the 2019 Spring Chess Classic. (Photo: FIDE) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s top chess player Le Quang Liem came out inthird place overall with five points at the 2019 Spring Chess Classic in StLouis, Missouri, USA, after brilliantly finishing off Ukrainian master VassilyIvanchuk in the last round on March 10.
Second seed Quang Liem only needed 35 moves to force the former world rapidchampion to concede the defeat, according to Nhan Dan online newspaper.
It was the third victory for the Vietnamese star at this year’s event. Earlier,he recorded two wins over Benjamin Bok (Netherland, Elo 2638) and RustamKasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), four draws against Illya Nyzhnyk (Ukraine), RayRobson (USA) and Aryan Tari (Norway) and Varuzhan Akobian (USA), and two lossesagainst Jeffery Xiong (USA) and Eric Hansen (Canada).
As the third-place finisher, Liem walked away with a cash prize of 3,000 USD,half of the stake won by the champion Jeffery Xiong, who scored six pointsoverall. Illya Nyzhnyk was named the runner-up with 4,000 in prize money, NhanDan reported.
The 2019 Spring Chess Classic, which took place between March 2 and 10,featured the participation of ten players with an average Elo rating of 2657,who battled it out for more than 30,000 USD in total prize money.
By taking part in the US event, Quang Liem could not attend the ongoing 2019HDBank International Chess Tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, where he has beenthe three-time champion. - VNA
VNA
