Liem holds on to third in Spice Cup

It's a draw: Vietnamese Le Quang Liem (right). — Photo susanpolgar.blogspot.com

(VNS) Viet Nam's Super Grandmaster Le Quang Liem secured his third draw at the Spice Cup Chess Festival in the US yesterday.

Liem, the defending champion, could find no way past the Chinese representative Liren Ding in the third round of the tournament, which comprised of six of the world's best players.

Ding is China's reigning champion and is ranked as the third best junior in the world.

The Vietnamese now sits in third place in the tournament with 1.5 points.

GM Georg Meier of Germany is currently on top with two points.

The other third round match also finished as a draw, with nothing to separate GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and GM Wesley So, the national champion of the Philippines.

The result takes Vachier-Lagrave, a former World Junior champion, to second place. The player has as many points as Liem but a better sub-index.

In the next round Liem will play Balogh Csaba, Balogh Csaba, a member of the Hungarian national chess team and top-notch chess author. Other pairs are Liren vs Vachier-Lagrave and So vs Meier.

The tournament will conclude on October 21 after 10 rounds. — VNS