VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s international GM Le Quang Liem defeated Constantin Lupupescu of Romania at the Fujairah International Chess Championship on November 20, raising fresh hope for the top title.

After seven rounds, he has had four wins, two draws and one loss, ranking second in the standings.

Liem’s major rivals Etienne Bacrot of France, Surya Ganguly, Surya Ganguly of India,  Sergey Fedorchuk, and Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine, were all held to draw in round 7, creating an opportunity for the Vietnamese player to vie for the title in the last two rounds.

In round 8, Liem, with an Elo rating of 2705 in the FIDE rankings, is expected to outperform Chanda Sandiphan of India (Elo rating 2569). Another win will help improve his ranking and open the door for him to win the trophy and receive a US$15,000 prize.

Liem was seeded No 2 at the tournament behind Jobava Baadur of the UK. Two super grand masters Bacrot Etienne of France and Moiseenko Alexander of Ukraine are also taking part in the event.

He drew with Ma Qun of China on November 19 and Safarli Eltaj of Azerbaijan on November 18.

VietNamNet/VOV