>>> GM Le Quang Liem pockets US$15,000 as runner-up at Chessable Masters
>>> Chess: GM Liem pockets US$12,500 for fifth place at Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz
The list of Aimchess US participants was unveiled by the organisers on August 18, with Liem and Carlsen to be joined by Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Alireza Firouzja, Leinier Dominguez, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vidit Gujrathi, Vladislav Artemiev, Jorden van Foreest, Daniel Naroditsky, Eric Hansen, and Awonder Liang.
The 16 competitors have an average Elo rating of 2726, featuring half the world’s Top 10 (Carlsen, Aronian, Mamedyarov, Giri and So) as well as World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda – a much stronger force compared to the previous stage, the Chessable Masters, where Liem scored a brilliant runner-up finish.
The Aimchess US Rapid features five of the world's Top 10. (Photo: Chess24)
The Aimchess US Rapid will run from August 28 to September 5. All the games will once again be played online on the chess24 Playzone with the same 16-player Prelims followed by 8-player Knockout format as the previous events on the tour.
Moreover, this will be the last chance for the players to accumulate points towards a place in the 10-player Tour Finals, slated to take place between September 25 and October 4. Six players have already been confirmed for the Finals, namely Carlsen, So, Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi. However, Vladislav Artemiev, Le Quang Liem, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alireza Firouzja can still book themselves a place at the expense of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who is playing, and Hikaru Nakamura, who isn’t.
Vietnam's Le Quang Liem is currently ranked 10th in the Champion Chess Tour standings. (Photo: Chess24)
Liem is currently ranked 10th in the Champion Chess Tour standings with 30 points, 34 points off the top eight who are set to progress to the Tour Finals alongside two wildcards. The Aimchess US Rapid winner will accumulate 40 additional points while the runner-up will earn 25 points.
The Vietnamese star will almost have to top the tournament in order to surpass eighth-placed Vachier-Lagrave for a Tour Finals slot. However, if Liem can maintain his place in the top 10, he is still likely to receive a wildcard for the US$300,000 Finals.
