VietNamNet Bridge - After the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in South Korea, Vietnam’s top male chess player started to prepare for the World Cup in August 2013.

So far this year, Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son have had a very busy period of time because they have participated in a series of international competitions.

After the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Russia and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in South Korea, they will represent Vietnam at the World Chess Cup 2013, which will take place from August 10 through September 3 in the city of Tromso, Norway.

The world blitz chess champion Le Quang Liem arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on July 8 and immediately prepared for the world tournament. Liem said he has only one month for preparation, which is not enough to find a coach so he will train himself.

"I will keep working to improve my weaknesses. I will wait until the draw results for the World Cup are announced to know who my rivals are to take more careful preparation," Liem said.

At the World Cup, the highest achievement of Liem is entering the third round while Son entered the second round.

The World Cup is one of the major events organized by FIDE. The top three players of this tournament will get the card to attend "The Challenger – Candidates,” the next round to choose the one who will compete with Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen next year for the world championship.

This year 128 players around the world will participate in the tournament. Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen will not attend the even to prepare for the confrontation for the world championship in November.

The players will be divided into pairs for knockout competition. The winner after seven rounds will be crowned and awarded $120,000.

Nam Nguyen