Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in 2006. Liêm is the current Asian champion and was the World Blitz Chess Champion in 2013. He has competed for team Vietnam at the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

since 2006. The best result occurred in 2012, when he scored 8/10 points on board 1 and his team finished in 7th place, the highest ever for Vietnam.

Chess career

Early career

Lê Quang Liêm won a gold medal at the 2003 Asian Youth Chess Championships, held in

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

, India, in the Under 12 category. As a result of this victory he was awarded the title of FIDE Master. In the 2004 edition, which took place in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, Lê Quang Liêm won the Under 14 section. Also in 2004, he tied with

Subramanian Arun Prasad Subramanian Arun Prasad (born 21 April 1988) is an Indian chess player. In 2008 he became India's 18th chess Grandmaster. Biography Born in Salem, Tamil Nadu, Arun Prasad won the 2004 Asian Under 16 Chess Championship in Tehran, Iran edging ...

for first place in the Asian Under 16 Championship in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

, Iran, taking the silver medal on tiebreak score. The next year Quang Liêm won the Under 14 division of the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

in July in

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Terr ...

, France.

2008

During August–September, he won the 1st Dragon Capital Vietnam chess open with 7/9.

2009

In September, he won the 4th Kolkata Open Chess Tournament ahead of 13 higher-rated players. In December, Lê Quang Liêm with Vietnamese team won the silver prize at Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championship in India, behind the host India. His personal performance is +4=1-1.

2010

In February, Lê Quang Liêm participated in the Moscow Open tournament in Moscow, Russia. With +5=4 performance, he tied for 1st-4th with Konstantin Chernyshov,

Evgeny Bareev Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev (russian: Евгений Ильгизович Бареев; born 21 November 1966) is a Russian-Canadian chess player and trainer. Awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1989, he was ranked fourth in the FIDE world ...

and Ernesto Inarkiev. Immediately after the Moscow open at the same venue, Quang Liêm won the 9th

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament; in 2013 it was converted to a rapid Rapids are sections ...

with 7/9 (+5=4), earning him an invitation to the

Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting The Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is an elite chess tournament held every summer in Dortmund, Germany. Dortmund is an invite-only event, with the exception that one slot at Dortmund is awarded to the winner of the annual Aeroflot Open in Moscow ...

. From July 15 through the 25th, he took part in his first elite invitational tournament in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...

, in a field consisting of nine-time Dortmund champion and former World Champion

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Ch ...

, world No. 6

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the worl ...

, former FIDE world champion

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship i ...

, 2004 World Chess Championship challenger

Peter Leko Peter Leko ( hu, Lékó Péter; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian chess player and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2004: the match was dra ...

, and former Dortmund champion

Arkadij Naiditsch Arkadij Naiditsch ( az, Arkadi Naydiç; born 25 October 1985) is an Azerbaijani (since 2015) chess grandmaster who previously represented Latvia (until 2005) and Germany (2005–2015). Career In 1995 he won the European Under-10 cha ...

. Facing Kramnik with the black pieces in the opening round, Quang Liêm held the former world champion to a draw, and after defeating the eventual winner Ponomariov in round 4, and Leko in round 5, Quang Liêm finished with five consecutive draws to secure clear second place with 5½/10 (+2=7-1) and a performance rating of 2776. From August 28 to September 3, he participated in 1st Campomanes Memorial Cup Open in the Philippines. His final score was 7/9 (+5=4), a shared first place with Zhao Jun of China, who won on tiebreak score. From 20 September to 4 October at

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk ( rus, Ха́нты-Манси́йск, Khánty-Mansíysk, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city and the administrative center of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, Russia. It stand ...

, Russia, Quang Liêm with the other Vietnamese players took part in 39th

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

. Playing on board one, Quang Liêm's score was +2=7-2.

2011

From February 7 to February 18, he once again participated in Aeroflot Open and successfully defended the title. His score was 6½/9, a shared first place with Nikita Vitiugov and

Evgeny Tomashevsky Evgeny Yuryevich Tomashevsky (russian: Евгений Юрьевич Томашевский; born 1 July 1987) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2005. Tomashevsky is a two-time Russian Chess Champio ...

. At the time he was the only player to have won Aeroflot Open twice, now having been matched by

Ian Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

in 2015. His win automatically qualifies him for a return invitation to the Dortmund Invitational tournament, where he competed in a field that included

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraRuslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship i ...

among others. From May 10 to May 21, he was invited to play in the Elite group of the Capablanca Memorial tournament, a very strong field of players (FIDE category 19) including reigning champion

Vassily Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...

, Latin America's number one Leinier Domínguez, Czech Republic's number one David Navara, Lázaro Bruzón of Cuba and

Dmitry Andreikin Dmitry Vladimirovich Andreikin (russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Андрейкин, born 5 February 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster, World Junior Chess Champion in 2010 and two-time Russian Chess Champion (2012 and 2018 ...

of Russia. After the final round defeat to Ivanchuk, his score was 6½/10, a shared first place but ranked second after Ivanchuk via tiebreak score.

2012

From October 12 to 21, he participated in the SPICE Cup, the highest rated international invitational

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

in US history (FIDE category 18) including

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (; born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest ...

Ding Liren Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vac ...

Wesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and 3-time U.S. Chess Champion (in 2017, 2020, and 2021). He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was rank ...

, Georg Meier, and Csaba Balogh. He was undefeated but finished in a tie for second with Ding Liren, half point behind the winner Vachier-Lagrave. After the tournament, he accepted a 4-year scholarship to attend

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate program ...

, starting in August 2013.

2013

From March 19 to 24, he participated in the HD Bank Cup Open, the highest rated international open tournament in Vietnam. He was undefeated with six wins, three draws, scoring 7½/9 and winning the tournament. From May 16 to 26, he participated in the Asian Continental Championships, which was held in the Philippines. He finished at 4th place with a score of 6½/9. Quang Liêm won the blitz championship with 8½/9. From June 6 to 8, he took part in the

World Rapid Chess Championship The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recognized tour ...

, held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. He finished 4th, with 10/15, behind Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (11½/15), Ian Nepomniachtchi (11/15) and Alexander Grischuk (10½/15). After that he participated in

World Blitz Chess Championship The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapi ...

, which he won, scoring 20½/30. He is the first Vietnamese athlete to achieve the world champion title.

2014

From June 15 to 20 Quang Liêm competed in the 2014 World Rapid and Blitz Championships in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

, UAE as the defending champion in blitz. At blitz Quang Liêm finished fourth with +12=4-5, behind the new champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has ...

and

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraNguyen Ngoc Truong Son Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this ...

, and other Vietnamese chess players took part in

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the 21s ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Quang Liêm scored 5½ points from 10 games (+3-2=5) at board 1.

College chess

Quang Liêm graduated summa cum laude from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, US in May, 2017. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in management. While at Webster University, Quang Liêm played Board 1 for the national championship chess team, winning the President's Cup all four years as a student 2014 through 2017.

2017

In March, Quang Liêm won the 7th HDBank tournament in

Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

, with total score 7 in 9 games (+5=4). From 1 to 5 July, Quang Liêm participated in the World Open as the number 1 seed and finished at second place (behind Tigran L. Petrosian) with 7 points after 9 rounds. From 8 to 18 July, Quang Liêm participated in Danzhou SuperGrandmaster Tournament in

Danzhou Danzhou () is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of the Chinese island province of Hainan. Although called a "city", Danzhou administers a large area which was called Dan County or Danxian () until 1993. The administrative seat and urba ...

, China. His result of 5½/9 (+2=7) earned him second place behind the winner

Wei Yi Wei Yi (born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the 9th youngest in history. He is the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2700, accomplishing this feat ...

, having the same amount of points as

but a worse tiebreak. From 13 to 19 of August, Quang Liêm was invited to the Saint Louis rapid and blitz event of the Grand Chess Tour, with attendance of top super-grandmasters, including the return of Garry Kasparov. He shared the 5th place with Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez. In the event Quang Liêm won against Caruana, Aronian, Nakamura and Kasparov. In early September he competed in the FIDE World Cup in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Georgia. He beat

VItaly Kunin Vitaly Kunin (born 2 October 1983) is a German chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE in 2006. Chess career He played in the Chess World Cup 2017, where he was defeated in the first round by Lê Qu ...

from Germany in the first round, then Quang Liêm was eliminated by Vidit Santosh Gujrathi from India in the second. From 21 to 27 September, Quang Liêm participated in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Art Games in

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

, Turkmenistan. He won the gold medal with 5½ points after 7 games in the individual classical category. Then he also won, together with Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, the team rapid and blitz categories.

2018

In the second Danzhou super-grandmaster tournament with all 8 participants with Elo higher than 2700, Quang Liêm finished second with 4/7 (+2=4-1). His only loss was to

Bu Xiangzhi Bu Xiangzhi (; born December 10, 1985) is a Chinese chess player. In 1999, he became the 10th grandmaster from China at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua be ...

. Quang Liêm defeated Vidit Gujrathi and Samuel Shankland in the last two rounds.

2019

In June, Quang Liêm won the Asian Continental Championship in

Xingtai Xingtai (), formerly known as Xingzhou and Shunde, is a prefecture-level city in southern Hebei province, People's Republic of China. It has a total area of and administers 4 districts, 2 county-level cities and 12 counties. At the 2020 cens ...

, China, becoming the first Vietnamese player ever to do so. Soon after he also won the Summer Classic A tournament in St. Louis, US and the World Open (after a playoff with Jeffery Xiong) in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, US.

2021

In 2021 Quang Liêm participated in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2021. He scored 30 points across the tour, placing him 10th out of the 41 total tour participants. Consequently, he narrowly missed out on the tour finals. His most successful tournament in the tour was the Chessable Masters, where he beat super grandmasters

Alireza Firouzja Alireza Firouzja ( fa, علی‌رضا فیروزجا, ; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest ever 2800- rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months ...

and

Levon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A chess prodigy, he earned the title ...

on his way to the final where he lost to

. In the same year, Le took the offer to be the chess coach at his alma mater

, succeeding

Susan Polgar Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

2022

In February Quang Liêm participated in the Airthings Masters round of the Champions Chess Tour 2022 where he qualified for quarter finals, which he lost to the eventual tournament winner

. In March, he played in the second leg of the Champions Chess Tour, Charity Cup. He had a dominant qualifying, placing first with the score of 32/45 (football scoring, +9=5-1). He beat David Navara in the quarterfinal, but lost to

Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda (; born 26 April 1998) is a Polish chess grandmaster. A prodigy, he achieved the grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and 21 days. he is ranked No. 1 in Poland and No. 18 in the world. His personal best rating ...

in the semifinal. In April, he beat

in the Oslo Esports Cup. Liêm has a good chance to become Oslo Esports Cup champion but Liêm are unfortunately unable to win a big victory over Jorden Van Foreest, grandmaster Le Quang Liem was satisfied with the Oslo Esports Cup runner-up with 13 points. In the end, the top three places of the Oslo Esports Cup belonged to Jan-Krzysztof Duda (14 points), Le Quang Liem (13 points) and Magnus Carlsen (12 points), Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (12 points). In July, Liêm won the 2022 Biel Chess Festival with a score of 35.5. In August (15-22), Liêm participated at FTX Crypto Cup and finished fourth after

, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and

, with results of +4-3.Carlsen wins FTX Crypto Cup, Pragg impresses by securing second place
/ref>

Notable tournament results

*2005 World Championship (U14), Belfort (Classical) 1st 9/11 *2008 Dragon Capital VietNam Chess Open (Classical) 1st 8/9 *2009 Kolkata Open (classical) 1st 8/10 *2010 Aeroflot Open (classical) 1st 7/9 *2010 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (classical) 2nd 5.5/10 *2010 Campomanes Memorial (classical) 2nd 7/9 *2010 Moscow Open (Classical) 3rd 7/9 *2011 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 4th 6.5/9 *2011 TATA Steel (Group B) 4th 7.5/13 *2011 Aeroflot Open (classical) 1st 6.5/9 *2011 Capablanca (classical) 2nd 6.5/10 *2011 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (classical) 2nd 5.5/10 *2011 SPICE Cup (classical) 1st 17/10 (football score system) *2012 HD BANK Cup (classical) 2nd 7.5/9 *2012 FIDE World Blitz Championship 7th 16.5/30 *2012 SPICE Cup (Classical) 2nd 5.5/10 *2012 Chess Olympiad Istanbul 2012 5th 8/11 *2013 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 1st 7.5/9 *2013 Asian Continental Chess Championships 4th 6.5/9 *2013 Asian Continental Blitz Chess Championships 1st 8.5/9 *2013 FIDE World Rapid Championships 4th 10/15 *2013 FIDE World Blitz Championships 1st 20.5/30 *2013 SPICE Cup (Classical) 3rd 6/9 *2014 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 3rd 7/9 *2014 FIDE World Blitz Championships 4th 14/21 *2015 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 1st 7.5/9 *2015 President's Cup (Armageddon) 1st 10/24 *2015 Millionaire Chess Open (Classical) 2nd 6/7 *2015 SPICE Cup (Classical) 1st 7/9 *2016 College Final Four (Classical) 1st 3/3 *2016 Asian Nations Cup (Blitz) 1st 4.5/5 *2016 Asian Continental Chess Championships 2nd 6.5/9 *2016 Asian Continental Blitz Chess Championships 2nd 7/9 *2017 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 1st 7.0/9 *2017 Danzhou Super Chess Grandmaster Tournament (Classical) 2nd 5.5/9 *2017 St. Louis, Grand Chess Tour (rapid and blitz) : tied 5th (10 players in the tourney). *2017 AIMAG (Asian Indoor and Martial Art Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan) : 1st 5.5/7 (classical) and gold medals in team rapid and blitz categories.

References

External links

* * *
Interview with GM Le Quang Liem
at Chessdom.com (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Le, Quang Liem 1991 births Living people Vietnamese chess players Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors World Youth Chess Champions Asian Games medalists in chess Asian Games silver medalists for Vietnam Chess players at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Southeast Asian Games medalists in chess Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Vietnam Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Vietnam Competitors at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games Sportspeople from Ho Chi Minh City Competitors at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games