Defending champion Le Quang Liem is close to the leading group of the HDBank International Chess Open Tournament after winning the seventh game in the morning session on March 14.

Le Quang Liem  of Viet Nam wins seventh game at the HDBank Chess Open. — Photo of organisers

Grandmaster (GM) Liem defeated GM Ivan Rozum from Russia after 73 moves in the Master category.

Liem currently ranks fifth, with 5.5 points, jumping two steps up. He is only 0.5 points short of being in the leading group, which includes Vietnamese International Master (IM) Le Tuan Minh and GM Mareco Sandro from Argentina.

Minh, a phenomenon of the Open, had a good score, forcing Chinese GM Wang Hao to finish their game in a draw after 30 moves.

However, he lost his top spot to Sandro who also had six points but scored better parameter after seven matches.

Meanwhile, IM Tran Minh Thang has joined the top 10 (No 8) with a win over IM Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan.

In the Challengers category, Ocido Michael of the Philippines enjoys a stable top rank with 6.5 points. His teammate, FIDE Master Nelson Villanueva, is second, followed by Vietnamese Vuong Trung Hieu.

VNS