Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese International Grandmaster Le Quang Liem has defeated defending European champion Vladislav Artemiev of Russia in the third round of the FIDE World Cup in the town of Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
Liem beat his rival 3.5 – 2.5 in blitz chess to advance to the fourth round of the tournament.
Earlier, the two players drew their first and second game in the standard event so they had to play rapid games to decide the winner.
Liem will face Levon Aronian of Armenia in the next round.
By reaching the fourth round of 16 players, Liem will walk away with at least 25,000 USD.
The FIDE World Cup 2019 is a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament held from September 9 to October 4.
The matches from round one to round six consist of two classical games.
The finalists of the tournament will qualify for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2020.
The total prize fund is 1.6 million USD, with the winner taking away 110,000 USD./
VNA