Vietnamese Grandmaster (GM) Le Quang Liem is close to winning the men’s title of the ongoing  Asian Individual Chess Championship in Uzbekistan.

Le Quang Liem

Former blitz world champion Liem defeated Adhiban B of India in the eighth round. With five wins and three draws, he took the lead out of 91 players, with 6.5 points.

In the ninth and last round, he will meet Ganguly Surya Shekhar of India.

Chinese Wei Yi also had 6.5 points, but he ranked second because of a different auxiliary index. Sethuraman S P of India finished third, with six points.

Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son ranked ninth, with 5.5 points, after he tied with Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran in the eighth round. Meanwhile, Vietnamese GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy lost to Vokhidov Shamsiddin of Uzbekistan, and is now in 59th place.

Son will face Fang Yan of China, while Huy plays Mohammed Zozek Salah Mohammed of Iraq in the next round.

Three Vietnamese chess players also  placed among the top 10 women players.

Hoang Thi Bao Tram rose up three steps to fourth place, out of 35 players. Tram bested Abdusattoro Bakhora of Uzbekistan in the eighth match.

Nguyen Thi Mai Hung ranked fifth, after crushing Padmini Rout of India. And Vo Tho Kim Phung was in eighth position, after a draw with her teammate Pham Le Thao Nguyen.

Tram will now compete with Kulkarni Bhakti of India, Hung will face Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, and Phung will meet Li Xueyi of China.

VNS