Vietnam GM defeats world champ at Swiss chess tour

After seven games, Liem claimed 4.5 points, including the impressive win against Kamsky, a Soviet-born American grandmaster, in the last one. Despite playing black, Liem had made impressive and decisive moves.

He used the queen sacrifice to lure the knight far from the king, claiming victory in just 24 moves.

Overall, Liem finished third in the chess960 event. The chess960 is an unorthodox chess format where pieces are randomly arranged, with 960 options.

Liem started strong with impressive wins against Azerbaijan GM Arkadij Naiditsh and the United Arab Emirate GM Salam Saleh, playing white.

In the next two games, Liem was bettered by Germany GM Vincent Keymer and Uzbekistan GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov. He bounced back with another victory over China GM Yu Yangyi in the fifth game and a draw against Indian prodigy Dommaraju Gukesh in the sixth.

Finishing in the top four of the chess960 event helped Liem gain an advantage as he will get to play white in four games of the standard event that will take place from July 14 to 22. Two days before that, he will compete in the rapid event.

After this tournament, Liem will join the Vietnam national chess team for Olympiad, which is set to take place on July 26 in India.