Espen Lie (born January 3, 1984) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player who currently holds the title of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...

, and was the Norwegian Chess Champion for 2007. He is the younger brother of GM

Kjetil A. Lie Kjetil Aleksander Lie (born 18 November 1980 in Porsgrunn) is a Norwegian chess player, and Norway's eighth International Grandmaster (GM). Lie was the Norwegian chess champion in 2009 and 2010. Representing the chess club in Porsgrunn, Lie ...

. Lie plays for the chess club in

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn wa ...

. In the 2007 Norwegian championship, played at

Hamar Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...

, Espen Lie and Geir Sune Tallaksen (also representing Porsgrunn) shared first place with 6.5 points out of 9. The result was viewed as surprising, for Lie and Tallaksen were ranked as number 9 and 10 (out of 20) in the tournament, behind a number of grandmasters. A play-off between the two was arranged September 21–23 in Porsgrunn to determine the champion, and Lie prevailed in the sixth game after the first five games all were drawn. Espen Lie has two GM norms, the first one after 5.5/9 in an international tournament in Reykjavik, and the second after 7/9 in the 2012 Norwegian chess championship in

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

, where he tied for first with IM

Frode O. O. Urkedal Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal (born 14 May 1993) is a Norwegian chess player. He holds the title of Grandmaster, and is the 2012 and 2014 Norwegian champion. Urkedal began playing chess as an after-school activity at his school at Kjelsås, in n ...

. Lie lost the play-off for the title after losing the first game and drawing the second. Apart from chess, Lie's training to become a teacher.

References

External links

* * 1984 births Norwegian chess players Chess International Masters Living people People from Porsgrunn {{norway-chess-bio-stub