Top Vietnamese chess player to enter world top 20

Liem advanced one place on the FIDE ranking, after Chinese grandmaster Wang Hao fell six places to 25th. Wang attended Abu Dhabi Masters in the United Arab Emirates from Aug. 17 to 25 as the first seed, but only won 5.5 out of nine points, losing 13 Elos. Wang’s current Elo rating is only 2,722.

Liem has an Elo rating of 2,728, surpassing Wang to rank 20th. This is Liem’s highest world ranking ever. The highest position he had achieved was 21st in 2017.

Liem also rose to third in Asia, after China’s Ding Liren and India’s Viswanathan Anand. He is 30 Elo points away from the top 10.

The highest Elo rating that Liem achieved was 2,739 in August 2017. If he can reach that number now, his position would be 18th.

In summer 2022, Liem attended two standard chess tournaments, Prague Masters in June and Biel Grandmasters in July, winning the latter. He accumulated 19 Elo points at these events.

Attending standard chess tournaments is no longer a priority for Liem, who is currently a coach at Webster University and Director of Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence Academy in the U.S. In 2021, the 31-year-old refused to attend Sinquefield Cup because he was busy with work at Webster.

Magnus Carlsen is still on top of the chess world with an Elo rating of 2,861, 53 points more than second-placed Ding.