Vietnam grandmaster draws against chess king Carlsen at int’l tournament

In the final matchday of the group stage in Charity Cup, the second event of the grand series Champion Chess Tour (CCT), Liem also won against Czech Republic number one David Navara and drew another with world number seven Richard Rapport.

The previous day saw Liem advancing to the quarterfinals early with 27 points after 11 matches, a record of a CCT event.

After the final matchday, Liem concluded the group stage with 32 points, which is the most points earned in any event of the CCT. He maintained the top position with three points more than Carlsen. Overall, Liem won nine, drew five and only lost one in the group stage.

In the quarterfinals, Liem will play Navara again, who placed ninth in the group stage. If Liem wins, he will face the winner of the game between Poland’s Jan Krzysztof Duda and David Anton of Spain.

The quarterfinals will take place on Thursday in the format of four-game matches. If still tied, two blitz games will be followed, if needed, by an Armageddon game, where white has five minutes to black’s four, but black only needs a draw to win.

Liem’s best result at an event of the CCT was in last year when he finished as the runner-up of the Chessable Masters.