HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Grandmaster (GM) Lê Quang Liêm is close to winning the men’s title of the ongoing  Asian Individual Chess Championship in Uzbekistan.

Former blitz world champion Liêm defeated Adhiban B of India in the eighth round. With five wins and three draws, he took the lead out of 91 players, with 6.5 points.

In the ninth and last round, he will meet Ganguly Surya Shekhar of India.

Chinese Wei Yi also had 6.5 points, but he ranked second because of a different auxiliary index. Sethuraman S P of India finished third, with six points.

Vietnamese GM Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn ranked ninth, with 5.5 points, after he tied with Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran in the eighth round. Meanwhile, Vietnamese GM Nguyễn Huỳnh Minh Huy lost to Vokhidov Shamsiddin of Uzbekistan, and is now in 59th place.

Sơn will face Fang Yan of China, while Huy plays Mohammed Zozek Salah Mohammed of Iraq in the next round.

Three Vietnamese chess players also  placed among the top 10 women players.

Hoàng Thị Bảo Trâm rose up three steps to fourth place, out of 35 players. Trâm bested Abdusattoro Bakhora of Uzbekistan in the eighth match.

Nguyễn Thị Mai Hưng ranked fifth, after crushing Padmini Rout of India. And Võ Thị Kim Phụng was in eighth position, after a draw with her teammate Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên.

Trâm will now compete with Kulkarni Bhakti of India,  Hưng will face Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, and Phụng will meet Li Xueyi  of China. — VNS