VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam’s top chess player, Le Quang Liem, defeated Andyka Pitra of Indonesia in HCM City on Sunday during the first round of the masters category of the seventh HDBank Cup International Open Chess tournament 2017.

Le Quang Liem. — Photo sggp.org.vn

The 25-year-old Liem, with an Elo rating of 2712, is No 2 seed at the event. He will battle teammate Vo Thanh Ninh in the next round.

Liem’s top rival, Wei Yi of China (Elo 2725), also beat Tu Hoang Thong of Viet Nam. Yi will next meet Diu Viacheslave of Russia.

Also, Bu Xiangzhi of China bested his teammate Li Yankai. Xiangzhi will take on Cao Sang of Viet Nam.

Although having the same one point but a difference on the auxiliary index, Yi temporarily took the lead in this division, followed by Liem and Xiangzhi.

Additionally, Viet Nam players Tran Tuan Minh defeated Kathmale Sameer of India, Le Tuan Minh defeated Le Thanh Tu and Nguyen Anh Khoi won over Tran Ngoc Lan.

Vietnamese player Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son withdrew from the competition because of sickness.

In the Challengers category, Duong Thuong Cong of Viet Nam temporarily topped the rankings after defeating teammate Vu Ba Khoi.

The event, which will offer a largest-ever bonus of US$45,000, will take place on March 12-17 in HCM City, with the participation of 230 players from 24 countries and territories.

VNS