Chess - The Scotsman 15/02/2012

By John Henderson
Published on Wednesday 15 February 2012 00:00

WHILE it’s proving hard for FIDE to get chess recognised as a sport in the Olympic Games, it is easier to get a leading grandmaster to carry the torch for the upcoming games in London.

The London Organising Committee has invited GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam to run about 300 metres during the 70-day torch procession that will visit more than 1,000 cities and towns in the UK prior to the official opening ceremony on 27 July in London. The world No 29, who will join 100 other outstanding individuals during the relay, will become the first Vietnamese athlete nominated as a torchbearer.

Liem is one of a growing band of a newer generation in the game. He first came to international notice in 2010 with two remarkable back-to-back performances in the chess heartland of Moscow as he out-scored several of the world’s top grandmasters in capturing the Aeroflot Open and sharing first equal in the Moscow Open. Winning the Aeroflot title gave Liem his first invitation to appear on the elite stage at the 2010 Dortmund Sparkassen super-tournament, and he made his mark there with an impressive second-place finish ahead of the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik.

Last year, Liem again took the plaudits by winning his second successive Aeroflot title on tiebreak – and he’s back once again at the 11th Aeroflot Open, again as defending champion, now looking for an unprecedented third successive title in the world’s strongest open tournament.

Le Quang Liem - B Savchenko

11th Aeroflot Open A, (1)

Queen’s Gambit Declined

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Be7 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 Bf4 0–0 6 Rc1 dxc4 7 e3 Nd5 8 Bxc4 Nxf4 9 exf4 Nc6 10 0–0 Bf6 11 Ne2 Qe7 12 Qc2 Rd8 13 Rfd1 Nb4 14 Qe4 Bd7 15 Ne5 Ba4 16 Rd2 c5 17 a3 Bxe5 18 fxe5 Bc6 19 Qg4 Nd5 20 dxc5 Qxc5 21 Bxd5 Qe7 22 Bxc6 Rxd2 23 Bf3 Rxb2 24 Nf4 Qxa3 25 Nxe6! g6 26 Qc4 h6 27 Nc7 Rb4 28 Qc2 Rd8 29 e6 Rf4 30 exf7+ Kxf7 31 Nd5 Qa4 32 Qc7+ 1–0

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.