Top Vietnamese chess player, Le Quang Liem will take part in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2014 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from June 15-21, with a solid target of defending his world blitz title won at last year’s competition.

The blitz will have 21 rounds and the rapid event will feature 15 rounds, with a single game for each round. The prize fund for each event, rapid and blitz, is US$200,000 with respective winners to be awarded US$40,000 each.

At the 2013 edition held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Liem made history as the first Vietnamese player to be crowned as world blitz champion, scoring 20.5 points, just half a point above former champion Russian Alexandr Grischuk.

This will be Liem’s fourth international competition in 2014, following the annual Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship in January, the fourth HDBank International Open Chess Tournament in Vietnam last month and the President’s Cup in the US early this month.

Liem also plans to compete in the 2014 National Rapid and Blitz Chess Tournament scheduled next month, on his return to Vietnam for the summer holidays.

Nhan Dan/VNN