VietNamNet Bridge – International Grand Master Le Quang Liem will compete in the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Germany on July 21-31.

Le Quang Liem.

Liem, 20, who plays for chess clubs in the German League, China's Chess League Division A and the French Chess League Top 16, has drawn tough opponents Russian Vladimir Kramnik, Ruslan Ponomariov, Amerian-Japanese Hikaru Nakamura, the Netherlands's Anish Giri and host Georg Meier in a double round-robin.

Liem, who has won the Aeroflot Open twice in a row, ranked second at the tournament last year behind Ponomariov.

He also jumped from 49th to 27th place in the world rankings due to victories over the last two months.

Liem won a silver medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

* Ha Noi emerge victorious from fin swim champs

Fin swimmers from Ha Noi bagged 20 gold, 9 silver and 10 bronze medals at the National Youth Fin Swimming Championship in Da Nang yesterday.

Hanoian Nguyen Trong Quan won four gold medals, setting four records in the men's 50m and 100m surface (diving with a snorkel), 100m immersion (diving with an air tank), and 50m apnea (diving without a snorkel) events.

Quang Binh's Nguyen Hoan Hao also managed three new records at the four-day competition, held at the Da Nang Aquatic Sports Centre.

Hosts Da Nang ranked second in the medals tally with 15 gold, 12 silver and six bronze.

HCM City came third, bagging 8 gold, 12 silver and six bronze medals.

Over 230 swimmers are expected to compete at the swimming event, which is set to run from today through to Saturday.

The top swimmers at the event will stand a chance to be recruited for the national team in preparation for the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia this November.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News