Quang Liem defeated two top 3 American players on the final day of the St Louis GCT 2017 tournament.

August 19, 2017 18:34

Vietnam's number one chess player shares fifth place with Fabiano Caruana (2,807) and Leinier Dominguez (2,739) with 16.5 points after 27 games in the most attractive chess tournament on the planet.

Le Quang Liem (Elo 2,739) received a prize of $10,000, successfully ending the major tournament, reaching the level of the world's top super grandmasters. The championship belonged to "Beckham of Armenia" - Levon Aronian (2,799) with 24.5 points.

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Quang Liem beat Caruana (world number three) in all three games. Photo: GCT.

Just like the first day of rapid chess, Quang Liem excelled in defeating two players in the world's Top 7, Caruana and Nakamura (2,792), in the first two games of the final day of blitz chess. This result helped him score 3/3 points with Caruana and 2.5/3 points against Nakamura - the self-proclaimed best player on the planet in super blitz chess.

"I was also a bit surprised with this result. I was very lucky in the rapid game, but in the two blitz games, I played better than Caruana overall," Quang Liem told VnExpress. "I also beat Nakamura with a score of 2.5-0.5. This is also a bit surprising because Nakamura is very strong in rapid and blitz chess."

After losing to Quang Liem in rapid chess, Nakamura behaved in an unsportsmanlike manner, standing up and turning away while shaking hands with his opponent. This issue made the tournament commentators unhappy. "Nakamura no longer stood up and shook hands, but he and I did not say anything after the blitz game," Quang Liem revealed.

In the following game, Quang Liem almost had a 2-1 lead against champion Levon Aronian, had he not run out of time in a winning position. The world No. 23 finished the tournament with a 1.5-1.5 score against his idol Garry Kasparov, after the two had split their last meeting.

"I think Kasparov played well, especially after 12 years of retirement. Of course, if I hadn't made a silly mistake in the rapid game, I could have got 2/3 points. Overall, I think the result is reasonable," he said.

Quang Liem also successfully avenged David Navara (2,737) to close the final day with three wins and three draws in nine games.

"I missed a lot of chances," he regretfully recalled his games against Kasparov and Navara in rapid chess, against Karjakin on the first day of blitz chess and against Aronian most recently. "If I had taken advantage of all those chances, I could have improved my ranking to fourth place. But then again, other players also missed a lot of chances, so there's no 'if'."

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Quang Liem defeated Caruana in the rook, bishop, and knight against queen endgame. Photo: GCT.

This is the first time Quang Liem has been invited to a stage of the Grand Chess Tour. He is on par with the world's number three and above two former Chess Kings - Kasparov and Anand. This achievement helps the number one Vietnamese chess player to be more confident with his immediate goal - reaching Elo 2,750 and entering the Top 20 of the world chess community.

Quang Liem will fly back to Vietnam to rest for a few days, before going to Tbisili (Georgia) to participate in the Chess World Cup, starting from September 1. The world's top 15 players are all present and Vietnam has two representatives in the tournament, including Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2,629).

The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is the most exciting chess tournament system on the planet, according to the evaluation of fans and experts. Although it was only launched in 2015, GCT brings together all the strongest players in the world, competing in many stages throughout the year. Since 2016, the tournament organizers have added the speed chess format (rapid & blitz). By 2017, the tournament includes five stages (two standard stages, three speed stages). Each stage always includes 10 players.

In rapid chess, players have 25 minutes to think and add 10 seconds for each move (25+10). Meanwhile, the time for blitz chess is 5+3.

Each year, the Organizing Committee announces its own conditions for players to participate in the tournament. But to get an official ticket, they usually have to be in the top 10. In addition, the Organizing Committee also gives out special tickets in each stage (standard chess gives 1 invitation, speed chess gives 4 invitations), including invitations for players outside the Top 20. But participants usually have to achieve an Elo coefficient of at least 2,700 (super grandmaster), with some exceptions for players from the host country.

The 2015 champion was the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. Last year, Wesley So, the world’s number two, won the title with a total prize of $295,000. The 2017 Speed ​​Chess Champion received $37,500, with the prize fund increasing each year.


Game 10 results

Aronian-Nakamura 1/2
Karjakin-Kasparov 1-0
Caruana-Quang Liem 0-1
Nepo-Anand 0-1
Navara-Dominguez 0-1

Game 11
Navara-Aronian 1-0
Dominguez-Karjakin 0-1
Anand-Caruana 0-1
Quang Liem-Nakamura 1-0
Kasparov-Nepo 1/2

Game 12
Aronian-Quang Liem 1-0
Nakamura-Anand 1-0
Caruana-Kasparov 0-1
Nepo-Dominguez 1-0
Karjakin-Navara 0-1

Game 13
Karjakin-Aronian 1/2
Dominguez-Caruana 1-0
Anand-Quang Liem 1/2
Navara-Nepo 1/2
Kasparov-Nakamura 1-0

Game 14
Nakamura-Dominguez 0-1
Caruana-Navara 1-0
Aronian-Anand 1/2
Nepo-Karjakin 1/2
Quang Liem-Kasparov 1/2

Game 15
Karjakin-Caruana 1-0
Nepo 0-1 Aronian
Navara-Nakamura 0-1
Dominguez-Quang Liem 1/2
Kasparov-Anand 1/2

Game 16
Aronian-Kasparov 1/2
Nakamura-Karjakin 1-0
Quang Liem 1-0 Navara
Anand 0-1 Domimnguez
Caruana 0-1 Nepo

Game 17
Caruana-Aronian 0-1
Dominguez-Kasparov 0-1
Karjakin-Quang Liem 1-0
Nepo-Hikaru 1/2
Navara-Anand ½

Game 18
Aronian-Dominguez 1-0
Nakamura-Caruana 1-0
Quang Liem-Nepo 0-1
Kasparov-Navara 1/2
Anand-Karjakin 1/2

St Louis GCT 2017 Final Results

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According to VNE

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Quang Liem defeated two top 3 American players on the final day of the St Louis GCT 2017 tournament.
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