Vietnam grandmaster to play int’l chess cup

After concluding Airthings Masters, the first tournament of CCT last month, Liem finished at the quarterfinals and became eligible to join the second tour.

Liem will play Charity Cup as the seventh seed. On March 23, he will play chess king Magnus Carlsen again.

This will be the 15th encounter between the two in an official chess competition. In the previous 14 games, Liem drew four and lost 10. The most recent time that Liem played Carlsen was in the quarterfinals of Airthings Masters, with Carlsen winning 2.5-1.5. Liem is still seeking his first win against the chess king.

Charity Cup, the next event of the CCT will take place from March 19 to 26. Just like Airthings Masters, 16 players will compete in the first stage in a round-robin format with $750 awarded for every game won and $250 for a draw.

The top eight players of the first stage will advance to the knockout stage that features 4-game matches, one each for the quarterfinals and semi-finals, and two such matches for the final. 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. The winner will pocket $25,000.