Vietnamese GM wins Asian Chess Championship title

Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem triumphs in the standard chess category of the 2019 Asian Continental Chess Championship. (Photo: VNA)

This was the first time the former world blitz chess champion won the Asian title.

Liem, who has an Elo rating of 2,694, beat Sethuraman Panayappan of India (Elo 2,613) in the final match after 38 moves.

The HCM City-born player had a total of seven points from nine matches, which proved enough for him to win the championship.

Liem brought home a cash prize of 11,000 USD.

Karthikeyan Murali and Sethuraman Panayappan were the runners-up with 6.5 points each.

Liem’s teammate Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son ranked 14th with 5.5 points.

On the women’s side, the nation’s best performer was Pham Le Thao Nguyen who achieved six points. Other competitors included Hoang Thi Bao Tram who finished on 5.5 points, Vo Thi Kim Phung with five points and Pham Bich Ngoc also with five points.

In the blitz chess event, Liem, the number-2 seed, brought home the silver medal with seven points. The title went to Nihal Sarin of India with eight points. Son ranked 18th with 5.5 points.

Vietnamese player Phung won the silver medal in the blitz chess for women with 6.5 points. Zhai Mo of China took the title with 7.5 points.

The tournament drew the participation of 112 chess players from 19 countries and territories.

VNA