Chess

GM Lê Quang Liêm of Việt Nam (left) seen during the match against Indian GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Photo of Biel Chess Festival.

HÀ NỘI -- Vietnamese Grandmaster (GM) Lê Quang Liêm won his third Biel Chess Festival's Masters title with a round to spare on July 24 in Biel, Switzerland.

In the penultimate round, Liêm was against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. He led the Indian by five points, which meant that, with four points for a win, the Indian star had to win on demand to maintain a chance of claiming the title. Instead everything went Liêm's way.

The former world blitz chess champion with the black pieces beat Rameshbabu after 65 moves to top the podium for three consecutive years.

"I’m extremely happy with the game today," said Liêm.

"Before the game I would be happy with a draw as well, but to be able to win such a nice game, in a really technical manner... and also with this victory I win the festival with one round to spare, so that’s a very nice thing, because in the last two years it was still very tense, so it’s really nice that I make it with one round to spare this time."

That win took him up to 2741.6 on the live rating list, surpassing the peak rating he set after last year's Biel of 2740.

If he beats Martirosyan in the final round, which will be held tonight in Hà Nội time, he will climb above World Champion Ding Liren into the world No 15 spot, while his new rating of 2745.6 would curiously be identical to Praggnanandhaa's current live rating.

This is only the second time in the Biel Festival's 56-year history that a player has won the championship for the third time in a row. Previously, French player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave achieved this feat in the period 2013-16.

The festival has taken place annually in Switzerland since 1968, with the participation of the world's top players. Famed GM like Anatoly Karpov, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen all won this tournament.

The Festival with two categories of Masters and Challengers features a 'chess triathlon' in which players compete in a classical and a rapid round-robin, followed by a blitz double round-robin.

Each round-robin features a different scoring system and the three or four players with the most points at the end of the triathlon compete in another classical round-robin for the title.

This year event organisers awarded CHF28,500 (US$32,300) prize fund for the Masters class and CHF14,000 for the Challengers.

With the win, Liêm walked away with $11,300. VNS