Vietnamese chess player Le Quang Liem gained four points in the rapid event on June 17 - the first day of the 2014 World Blitz and Rapid Championships taking place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The International GM achieved three wins and two draws, putting him just 0.5 points behind the leading Russian player Nepomniachtchi Ian.

Liem defeated Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran), Yangyi Yu (China) and Viktor Bologo (Moldova), and drew with Ipatov Alexander (Turkey) and Loek Van Wely (the Netherlands).

In the 2013 World Blitz and Rapid Championships in Russia, Liem won the championship title in the blitz event and ranked fourth in the rapid event.

However, according to experts, the Vietnamese player will find it hard to defend his championship title this year which has seen the participation of top 10 world players including standard chess champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway, Elo 2882).

His coach Lam Minh Chau said that qualifying for the top 10 of the 2014 tournament will be a success for Liem.

Liem’s teammate Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son also sets a personal target of ranking in the top 10 of this year’s championships.

On the opening day, he got three points with one win and four draws.

Son beat Breckenridge Steven James (USA) and shared points after drawing with Hao Wang (China), Dreev Aleksey, Svidler Peter and Malakhov Vladimir (all from Russia).

The 2014 World Blitz and Rapid Championships will last through to June 22.

Liem ranks seventh in world chess rapid event

Vietnamese Le Quang Liem stood seventh out of 113 players in the rapid discipline at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2014 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.

The HCM City-born top chess player Liem scored four points after five matches. He defeated Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, Yangyi Yu of China and Viktor Bologo of Moldova and tied with Ipatov Alexander of Turkey and Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands.

Liem's teammate Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son scored three points after one win and four draws to rank 27th.

The rapid championship consists of 15 rounds and will be held in the first three days, followed by 21 rounds of the blitz championship.

Liem was crowned world blitz champion at last year's competition with 20.5 points and earned a fourth place finish in the rapid section. Meanwhile, Son finished 16th and fifth in the rapid and blitz chess events, respectively.

VOV/VNN/VNS