Liêm defeats Andyka Pitra in HD chess tournament

Lê Quang Liêm. — Photo sggp.org.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s top chess player, Lê Quang Liêm, defeated Andyka Pitra of Indonesia in HCM City on Sunday during the first round of the masters category of the seventh HDBank Cup International Open Chess tournament  二0 一 七.

The  二 五-year-old Liêm, with an Elo rating of  二 七 一 二, is No  二 seed at the event. He will battle tea妹妹ate Võ Thành Ninh in the next round.

Liêm’s top rival, Wei Yi of China (Elo  二 七 二 五), also beat Từ Hoàng Thông of Việt Nam. Yi will next meet Diu Viacheslave of Russia.

Also, Bu Xiangzhi of China bested his tea妹妹ate Li Yankai. Xiangzhi will take on Cao Sang of Việt Nam.

Although having the same one point but a difference on the auxiliary index, Yi temporarily took the lead in this division, followed by Liêm and Xiangzhi.

Additionally, Việt Nam players Trần Tuấn Minh defeated Kathmale Sameer of India, Lê Tuấn Minh defeated Lê Thanh Tú and Nguyễn Anh Khôi won over Trần Ngọc Lân.

Vietnamese player Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn withdrew from the competition because of sickness.

In the Challengers category, Dương Thượng Công of Việt Nam temporarily topped the rankings after defeating tea妹妹ate Vũ Bá Khôi.

The event, which will offer a largest-ever bonus of US$ 四 五,000, will take place on March  一 二- 一 七 in HCM City, with the participation of  二 三0 players from  二 四 countries and territories. — VNS