Vietnamese chess stars compete in FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss

Vietnam’s top two chess players, Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, are competing in the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss, which is taking place from October 10-21 in the COMIS Hotel and Golf Resort in Douglas, Isle of Man.

Vietnamese Super GM Le Quang Liem (R) beat German Vincent Keymer in Round 6. (Photo: chess.com)
Vietnamese Super GM Le Quang Liem (R) beat German Vincent Keymer in Round 6. (Photo: chess.com)

Quang Liem (Elo 2708) is on a nine-game unbeaten streak, including two wins, against German Vincent Keymer (Elo 2506, Round 6) and Russian Alexey Sarana (Elo 2655, Round 8), and seven draws, most recently against American Robert Hovhannisyan (Elo 2639, Round 9).

The Vietnamese star currently ranks 28th with 5.5 points, only one point behind the leading group of four players, namely Fabiano Caruana (US, Elo 2812), David Antón Guijarro (Spain, Elo 2674), Levon Aronian (Armenia, Elo 2758) and Hikaru Nakamura (US, Elo 2745).

Next up for Quang Liem will be Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo (Elo 2664).

Vietnam’s no. 2 player Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Elo 2638) has also scored 5.5 points after six draws and three wins against Keith Allen (Elo 2161), Ariel Erenberg (Elo 2463) and Vladislv Artemiev (Elo 2746).

Son’s 10th-round opponent will be Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (India, Elo 2718).

The 11-round Swiss tournament is a highlight of 2019, bringing together 154 players, including 21 Super Grandmasters (Elo 2700+) and 110 Grandmasters (rated 2600+). The classical time control gives players 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, and then 15 minutes to the end of the game, plus 30 seconds bonus per move starting from move one.

A total prize fund of over US$430,000 is up for grabs, with US$70,000 for the champion. The overall winner of the Grand Swiss will qualify for the 2020 Candidates Tournament, which will be an eight-player event played in Yekaterinburg, Russia.