VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s top chess player Le Quang Liem will open the 2013 season by participating in the Gibraltar Festival Tradewise 2013.

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 Le Quang Liem (left) will face powerful opponents at Gilbrantar 2013.


To be able to attend this tournament, Liem has decided to drop the Aeroflot Open, Moscow Open and the regional championships 3.3. These are very important tournaments but Liem must "sacrifice" to attend the Gilbrantar because this will be a chance for him to meet high-quality players.

In the latest report, the Gilbrantar Festival Tradewise 2013 organizers officially closed the list of players attending the Masters system by adding a formidable chess player, David Navara (Czech Republic, ELO 2710).

Leading the Masters list this year will be International Super-grand Master--Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, Elo 2758), the champion in 2011. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Le Quang Liem to be the champion at the Capablanca Memorial Havana 2011.

The following notable players include Gata Kamsky (USA, Elo 2740), Michael Adams (England, ELO 2725), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland, ELO 2723), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France, ELO 2711), David Navara ( Czech, ELO 2710), Alexei Shirov (Latvia, ELO 2708) and Le Quang Liem (Elo 2705). With the presence in the last minute of David Navara, Le Quang Liem will have to face fierce competition.

David Navara played against Liem for four times, with two wins and two draws (one win and one draw at Capablanca 2011, one draw at Tata in B 2011 and one win at French team tournament 2012). Liem may have to face the host player Nigel Short (Elo 2696) and is the defending champion of the tournament.

The Masters competition of the Gilbrantar 2013 will take place from January 21 to 31, with 10 games according to the Swiss system. Reward for the champion is £20,000, and £14,000 and £12,000 for the next positions. The organizers will also present other awards, such as the best player of each round, with prize money of up to £1,000.

The Festival Tradewise Gibraltar is not only attractive in the prize value but also of the attraction of the top players in the world. This is why the Association of Professional Chess Players (ACP) has awarded the "Tournament of the Year 2012" for this competition.

Last year Liem had the opportunity to race for the championship, but after being defeated by a female player of China in the 8th round, he finished 7th with 7 points after 10 rounds.

It is hoped that this year Liem will achieve better performance, even though according to the website 2700chess.com, Liem has slipped three grades to the 42nd of the world, with ELO 2705.

Compiled by Nam Nguyen