International grand master Le Quang Liem mustered only a fourth place finish in the blitz chess at the 2014 World Blitz and Rapid Championships which drew to a close in Dubai on June 20.

The Vietnamese top chess player only managed to secure one point by outscoring France’s Laurent Fressinet.  He was outplayed in five consecutive matches losing to Laurent Fressinet (France), Levon Aronian (Armania), Caruana Fabiano (Italy) and only managed to draw even with Yudin Sergei (Russia) and Polgar Judit (Hungary).

In the final four matches, Liem eked out victories over Riazantsev Alexander (Russia), Matlakov Maxim (Russia), Anand Viswanathan (India) and Wojtaszek Radoslaw (Poland).   

After 21 matches, Liem scored total 14 points, trailing champion Carlsen Magnus of Denmark with 17 points. Nepomniachtchi Ian (Russia) and Hikaru Nakamura (USA) came in second and third, respectively.   

Meanwhile, Vietnamese player Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son salvaged a 24th place finish with 12.5 points. On the final day of competition, he gained 6.5 points thanks to four wins, five draws and one loss.

VOV/VNN