VietNamNet Bridge - To prepare for the Spice Cup that takes place from October 15 to 19 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Vietnam’s top chessman Le Quang Liem made the most of his free time after classes.

Busy with studies at the Webster University, Quang Liem did not have much time to prepare for the Spice Cup as the previous times. To have time for chess, Liem had to take advantage of the weekends or after school time.

The Spice Cup is sponsored by the Webster University, but like other players, Quang Liem will have only two days off and he must make sure his home work is done. If there are exams during his absence at school, Quang Liem will have to do them later.

Quang Liem said: "Fortunately, the Webster University has a powerful chess movement. I was training with many other international grandmasters and had private sessions with Susan Polgar so I hope it work for me."

At this tournament, players will play according to the Swiss System with 9 games (one game on the opening day and two games/day on the following days) to compete for the total bonus of $11,000, including $4,000 for the championship.

About 50 international players registered for the tournament, including 15 international grandmasters. Quang Liem ranked number one seed in the tournament with 2712 Elo rating.

According to Quang Liem, his main rivals are Fidel Corralez (Cuba), Georg Meier (Germany), Leon Hoyos Manuel (Mexico), Spice Cup champion Ray Robson (USA) and U20 world champion Alexander Ipatov (Turkey).

Nguyen Nam