including a fantastic victory over world no. 1 blitz player Hikaru Nakamura.

Vietnamese chess ace Le Quang Liem beats world no. 1 blitz player Hikaru Nakamura within 46 moves.

Liem started the second day perfectly defeating tough opponent Nakamura within 46 moves. The triumph helped the Vietnamese star break into the top eight players subject to quarterfinal berths.

However, in the next round, Liem fell out of the group of knockout candidates following his loss against world no. 2 rapid player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Liem was held by Vidit Gujrathi before conceding his second defeat of the day against Wesley So.

The top Vietnamese player concluded the second day with a Round-10 win over Peter Svidler, thus continuing to keep his quarterfinal hopes alive.

After the first 10 matches, Liem is temporarily sitting in 11th place with 4.5 points, just half a point adrift of eighth-placed Teimour Radjabov.

Anish Giri recorded five consecutive draws to safeguard his reign on top with 6.5 points, while chess king Magnus Carlsen joined Wesley So and Ding Liren in the next three positions level on six points.

The 16 players will play their last five matches today (November 25), with Le Quang Liem set to take on Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen, Radjabov, David Anton and Alireza Firouzja, respectively.

The Skilling Open rapid chess tournament is being played on Chess24 between November 22 and 30, offering a total prize fund of US$100,000. The overall champions will receive US$30,000, while other stakes include US$15,000 for the runner-up, US$7,500 for semifinalists, US$5,000 for quarterfinals and US$2,500 for preliminaries. NDO

Le Quang Liem enjoys first win at FIDE Grand Swiss chess competition

Le Quang Liem, Vietnam’s top chess player, enjoyed his first win of the ongoing FIDE Grand Swiss 2019 chess tournament following five consecutive draws.