Quang Liem defeated 'chess king' Garry Kasparov after 31 moves

On August 18 (Vietnam time), just 1 day after the unfortunate defeat in the rapid chess event, Le Quang Liem (Elo 2739) "avenged" with an impressive victory over "chess king" Garry Kasparov in the 5th blitz chess game of the Grand Chess Tour 2017 held in Saint Louis (USA).

Quang Liem is playing very well against the world's top opponents at the Grand Chess Tour. Photo: GCT

This is probably one of the most anticipated matches for Vietnamese fans because Garry Kasparov (Elo 2812) is a legend in the world of chess. This 54-year-old Russian player once held the number 1 position on the world rankings for 225 out of 228 weeks from 1986 until his retirement in 2005.

In the rapid chess event, Quang Liem lost to Garry Kasparov due to an unbelievable mistake at the end of the game. This time (in the blitz chess event), the number 1 Vietnamese player showed great determination when he proactively chose an attacking style of play right from the beginning even though he had to hold the black pieces.

Quang Liem's ​​expertise in blitz chess (he was the 2013 World Champion) and his quick calculations from his youth forced Garry Kasparov into a difficult defense. On the other side of the battle line, the Russian player also did his best to get a draw but he was forced to accept a quick defeat after only 31 moves.

“Chess King” Garry Kasparov lost to Le Quang Liem in the 5th blitz chess game of the Grand Chess Tour 2017. Photo: AFP

This is one of the most impressive results of the 5th game of the blitz chess event. At the same time, Quang Liem also became the first Vietnamese player in history to defeat Garry Kasparov.

Previously, Quang Liem impressed by winning against world No. 3 Caruana Fabiano (USA, Elo 2807) after 61 moves in the first blitz game. Thus, in both meetings in this year's tournament (rapid chess and blitz chess), Quang Liem defeated Caruana Fabiano.

In addition to these two victories, Quang Liem also drew with many very strong opponents such as: Nakamura Hikaru (Elo 27920), Anand Viswanathan (Elo 2783), Dominguez Perez Leinier (Elo2739) and Nepomniachtchi Ian (Elo 2742). And the three defeats of the number 1 Vietnamese player took place against Karjakin Sergey (Elo 2773), Aronian Levon (Elo 2809), Navara David (Elo 2737).

With this result, Quang Liem temporarily ranked 5th in the blitz chess category with 4 points after 9 games. The top three positions on the rankings belong to Karjakin Sergey (8 points), Aronian Levon (6.5 points) and Nakamura Hikaru (5.5 points).

Early morning of August 19 (Vietnam time), the players will compete in the last 9 games of blitz chess.

According to TTO