VietNamNet Bridge – Grandmaster Le Quang Liem was narrowly beaten by the Chess World Cup defending champion Peter Svidler in their tie-break games on August 23.

Holding the black pieces in the first leg Svidler followed the classical variation of King’s Indian Defence, but Liem chose to attack fiercely in pursuit of a victory.

However, he could not gain the upper hand and had to accept a draw after 50 moves.

In the return leg, the Vietnamese player had great difficulty dealing with Svidler’s brilliant moves right from the start which led to his unequal confrontation of one rook and five pawns against one bishop, one knight and four pawns in the middle of the games.

In the 121st move when Liem had only one rook and one pawn, he made a fatal mistake of prematurely occupying Svidler’s pawn, which was going to be promoted and exchanged for a queen and lost his rook to his opponent’s bishop.

Finding himself in an overwhelming position the Russian GM had no trouble checkmating Liem.

Despite his defeat Liem has left a profound impression with his decisive moves and daring attacking style to enter the tournament’s fourth round and get a cash prize of US$25,000 for the first time.

He is also the last Asian player to leave the event after Japan’s Hiraku Nakamura who was thrashed by Anton Korobov from Ukraine after two matches of standard chess.

Source: VOV