Vietnamese chess player Le Quang Liem failed to secure a place in the top ten players of the 2014 World Blitz and Rapid Championships in Dubai after pocketing only three points on June 18 – the final day of the rapid chess competitions.

The international GM (Elo 2712) outplayed Guseinov Gadir (Azerbaijan, Elo 2613), Luka Lenic (Slovenia, Elo 2659) and Jobava Baadur (Georgia, Elo 2713), but was beaten by Curuana Fabiaano (Italy, Elo 2791) and Etienne Bacrot (France, Elo 2720).

Liem scored a total of 9 points from 15 games, ranking 19th overall. It is a backward step for Vietnam’s No.1 chess player. In last year’s similar event, he finished fourth in the rapid chess.

In contrast, Liem’s teammate Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Elo 2621) got 9 points and was placed 15th in the rankings, an improvement compared to his result in 2013.

Worthy of note is that Son sealed an impressive victory over Wojtaszek Radoslaw (Poland, Elo 2715) on June 18.

Players began blitz chess competitions on June 19. Last year Liem won the championship title and Son stood at sixth in this category.

Coach Lam Minh Chau fears that Vietnamese players will find it hard to defend their positions in this year’s tournament which has seen the participation of top 10 world players including standard chess champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway, Elo 2882).

VOV/VNN