Lê Quang Liêm

Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese chess player, the top-ranked of his country.[1] He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Le is the current Asian champion and he was world champion in blitz chess in 2013.

In this Vietnamese name, the family name is Lê, but is often simplified to Le in English-language text. According to Vietnamese custom, this person should properly be referred to by the given name Liem.
Lê Quang Liêm
Liêm during the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in 2011
Country Vietnam
Born (1991-03-13) 13 March 1991
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
TitleGrandmaster (2006)
FIDE rating2709 (August 2020)
Peak rating2739 (August 2017)

He has competed for team Vietnam at the Chess Olympiad 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.[2]

Chess career

Early career

Le won a gold medal at the 2003 Asian Youth Chess Championships, held in Calicut, India, in the Under 12 category.[3] As a result of this victory he was awarded the title of FIDE Master. In the 2004 edition, which took place in Singapore, Le won the Under 14 section.[4] Also in 2004, he tied with Subramanian Arun Prasad for first place in the Asian Under 16 Championship in Tehran, Iran, taking the silver medal on tiebreak score.[5] The next year Le won the Under 14 division of the World Youth Chess Championship in July in Belfort, France.[6]

2008

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

2009

In September, he won the 4th Kolkata Open Chess Tournament ahead of 13 higher-rated players.[8]

In December, Le 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.[9]

2010

In February, Le participated in the Moscow Open tournament in Moscow, Russia. With +5=4 performance, he tied for 1st-4th with Konstantin Chernyshov, Evgeny Bareev and Ernesto Inarkiev.[10] Immediately after the Moscow open at the same venue, Le won the 9th Aeroflot Open with 7/9 (+5=4), earning him an invitation to the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting.[11]

From July 15 through the 25th, he took part in his first elite invitational tournament in Dortmund, in a field consisting of nine-time Dortmund champion and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, world No. 6 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, 2004 World Chess Championship challenger Peter Leko, and former Dortmund champion Arkadij Naiditsch.[12] Facing Kramnik with the black pieces in the opening round, Le held the former world champion to a draw, and after defeating the eventual winner Ponomariov in round 4,[13] and Leko in round 5, Le 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.[14]

From 20 September to 4 October at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Le with the other Vietnamese players took part in 39th World Team Chess Championship. Playing on board one, Le'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. At the time he was the only player to have won Aeroflot Open twice, now having been matched by Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2015. His win automatically qualifies him for a return invitation to the Dortmund Invitational tournament, where he competed in a field that included Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, and Ruslan Ponomariov 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, Latin America's number one Leinier Domínguez, Czech Republic's number one David Navara, Lázaro Bruzón of Cuba and Dmitry Andreikin 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,[15] the highest rated international invitational round-robin tournament in US history (FIDE category 18) including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ding Liren, Wesley So, 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,[16][17] 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. Le won the blitz championship with 8½/9.

From June 6 to 8, he took part in the World Rapid Chess Championship, 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, which he won, scoring 20½/30. He is the first Vietnamese athlete to achieve the world champion title.

2014

From June 15 to 20 Le competed in the 2014 World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Dubai, UAE as the defending champion in blitz. At blitz Liem finished fourth with +12=4-5, behind the new champion Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura. At rapid Liem finished 19th with +7=4-4.[18]

From 2 to 15 August, Le, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, and other Vietnamese chess players took part in Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway. Le scored 5½ points from 10 games (+3-2=5) at board 1.[19]

College chess

Le 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, Le played Board 1 for the national championship chess team, winning the President's Cup (chess) all four years as a student 2014 through 2017.

2017

In March, Liem won the 7th HDBank tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, with total score 7 in 9 games (5+4=).

From 1 to 5 July, Le 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.[20]

From 8 to 18 July, Le participated in Danzhou SuperGrandmaster Tournament in Danzhou, China. His result of 5½/9 (+2=7) earned him the second place behind the winner Wei Yi, having same point as Ding Liren but worse tiebreak.[21][22]

From 13 to 19 of August, Le 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 Le won against Caruana, Aronian, Nakamura and Kasparov.

In early September he competed in the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia. He beat VItaly Kunin from Germany in the first round, then Le was eliminated by Vidit Santosh Gujrathi from India in the second.

From 21 to 27 September, Le participated in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Art Games in Ashgabat, 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, Le finished second with 4/7 (+2=4-1). His only loss was to Bu Xiangzhi. Le Quang Liem defeated Vidit and Samuel Shankland in the last two rounds.

2019

In June, Le won the Asian Continental Championship in Xingtai, China, becoming the first Vietnamese player ever to do so.[23][24] 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, US.[25][26]

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.
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gollark: Sure!
gollark: For national security reasons, I need to manually operate ABR.
gollark: Oh no.
gollark: Since I doubt the cameras of the time could do depth sensing.

References
  1. Federations ranking - Vietnam. FIDE.
  2. "Vietnam accomplished 7th rank at Chess Olympiad". Tuoitrenews. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  3. "Giải vô địch cờ vua trẻ châu Á - Asian Youth Chess Championship 2003". Vietnamchess. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  4. "Giải vô địch cờ vua trẻ châu Á U8~U14- Asian Youth (U8-U14) Chess Championship 2004". Vietnamchess. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  5. Crowther, Mark (2004-04-12). "TWIC 492: Asian Boys and Girls Championships". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  6. "Trouble at the Youth Championship in Belfort". Chess News. ChessBase. 2005-08-04. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  7. "1st Dragon Capital Vietnam chess open". ChessResults.com. 2008-09-01. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  8. "4th Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2009". ChessResults.com. 2009-09-10. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  9. "Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championship 2009". chess-results.com. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  10. "Chernyshov wins Moscow Open 2010". ChessBase. 2010-02-08. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  11. "Aeroflot Open – Le Quang Liem victorious". ChessBase. 2010-02-18. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  12. The Week in Chess: Dortmund 2010 Archived 2011-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Dortmund 2010 Round 4 Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "1st Campomanes Memorial Cup". chess-results.com. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  15. "Vachier-Lagrave tops SPICE Cup". Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  17. "Le Quang Liem to study in the US, cherishing business dream". VietNamNet. 2012-11-17. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  18. "Dubai WRB - World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2014". Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  19. "41st Olympiad Tromso 2014 Open". chess-results.com. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  20. VN Grandmaster finishes second in World Open chess
  21. Quang Liem places second at Danzhou
  22. Wei Yi Wins In Danzhou, Climbs To World #14
  23. "Le Quang Liem wins first Asian chess championship for Vietnam". Tuoi Tre News. 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  24. "Le Quang Liem, Dinara Saduakassova Win Asian Continental". www.fide.com. 2019-06-24. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  25. Shahid Ahmed (2019-07-17). "Winning three strong tournaments in 22 days - Le Quang Liem". ChessBase India. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  26. "Vietnam's Le Quang Liem wins World Open to complete three-title streak in one month". Tuoi Tre News. 2019-07-08. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
Awards
Preceded by
Alexander Grischuk		 World Blitz Chess Champion
2013		 Succeeded by
Magnus Carlsen
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