Vietnamese chess star Le Quang Liem overcame the US challenger, Andrew Boekhoff in the first round of the 2015 Millionaire Chess Open tournament, the second edition of its kind, in Las Vegas on October 8.

The five-day event offers a total prize money of US$1 million, the highest stakes for an open competition in history, in sections of different Elo rating levels. Participants are playing in a seven-round Swiss tournament to decide the top four scorers of each section to move on to the final round on Monday (October 12).

Quang Liem is vying for the first prize of US$100,000 in the top-quality Open category that features the participation of 167 players from across the world.

Liem (Elo 2,697) lived up to expectations boasting absolute superiority over much lower rated Boekhoff (Elo 2,312) and promptly claiming an aggregate victory after just 25 moves.

Liem’s major competitors also pocketed easy wins in this round of play, with Wesley So (Philippines, Elo 2,760) beating Albert Hernandez (USA, Elo 2,327), Yu Yangyi (China, Elo 2,721) ousting Tommi Luukkonen (Finland, Elo 2,326), and Hikaru Nakamura (USA, Elo 2,816) defeating Gauri (India, Elo 2,355).

Wang Hao of China (Elo 2,712) made the biggest surprise of the first round with a disappointing loss to the US’s Raven Sturt, who is rated just 2,368.

Liem is standing in fifth position following the conclusion of round one, a convenient start to his ambition of entering the top four masters of the tournament. The first place is temporarily secured by Nakamura, followed by Fabiano Caruana (USA), Wesley So and Yu Yangyi in second, third and fourth place respectively.

Next up for the Vietnamese star will be a second-round clash against Renato R Quintiliano Pinto of Brazil scheduled today.

Nhan Dan