Vietnam’s no. 1 chess player Le Quang Liem is still looking for a win at the ongoing 8th Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament in China, after being held to a third consecutive draw by China’s no. 2 player, Yu Yangyi (elo 2,749).

Top Vietnamese chess player Le Quang Liem

With the advantage of playing white, world no. 30 Liem (elo 2,726) overwhelmed his opponent for the majority of the match.

However, an unwise decision in the 41st move prevented the Vietnamese GM from finishing victorious for the first time in this year’s tournament.

Chinese Wei Yi (elo 2,728), the youngest competitor, successfully defended his first-place position, with 2.5 points, after beating former FIDE world champion, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov (elo 2,712), in 40 moves.

China’s no. 1 player Ding Liren (elo 2,783) recorded an important win over fellow countryman Lu Shanglei (elo 2,638), thus climbing to second place with two points.

The remaining two matches on July 11 ended up in draws, including Wang Hao (China, elo 2,696) - Vladimir Malakhov (Russia, elo 2,722) and Arkadij Naiditsch (Latvia, elo 2,710) - Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, elo 2,738).

In the fourth round scheduled for today, Le Quang Liem will play black against Russian GM, Vladimir Malakhov.

Nhan Dan