Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
since 2006. The best result occurred in 2012, when he scored 8/10 points on board 1 and his team finished in 7th place, the highest ever for Vietnam.
Quang Liêm now lives in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
Lê Quang Liêm won a gold medal at the 2003 Asian Youth Chess Championships, held in
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature.
It is the nineteenth large ...
, India, in the Under 12 category. As a result of this victory he was awarded the title of
FIDE 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 (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
. In the 2004 edition, which took place in
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, Lê Quang Liêm won the Under 14 section. Also in 2004, he tied with Subramanian Arun Prasad for first place in the Asian Under 16 Championship in
Tehran
Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
, Iran, taking the silver medal on tiebreak score. The next year Quang Liêm won the Under 14 division of the
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History
Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...
in July in
Belfort
Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort.
Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...
, France.
2008
During August–September, he won the 1st Dragon Capital Vietnam chess open with 7/9.
2009
In September, he won the 4th Kolkata Open Chess Tournament ahead of 13 higher-rated players.
In December, Lê Quang Liêm with Vietnamese team won the silver prize at Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championship in India, behind the host India. His personal performance is +4=1-1.
2010
In February, Lê Quang Liêm participated in the Moscow Open tournament in Moscow, Russia. With +5=4 performance, he tied for 1st-4th with Konstantin Chernyshov,
Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev (; born 21 November 1966) is a Russian-Canadian chess player, trainer, and writer. Awarded the FIDE Grandmaster title in 1989, he was ranked fourth in the world in the international rankings in 1992 and again in 2003, w ...
and
Ernesto Inarkiev
Ernesto Kazbekovich Inarkiev (; born 9 December 1985) is a Russian chess grandmaster, the first ever from Kalmykia. He was European champion in 2016.
Since July 2005, Inarkiev has continuously been among the 100 highest FIDE-rated chess players ...
. Immediately after the Moscow open at the same venue, Quang Liêm won the 9th Aeroflot Open with 7/9 (+5=4), earning him an invitation to the
Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting
The Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is an open chess tournament held every summer in Dortmund, Germany. Until 2020, Dortmund was an invite-only event, with the exception that one slot at Dortmund was awarded to the winner of the annual Aeroflot ...
.
From July 15 through the 25th, he took part in his first elite invitational tournament in
Dortmund
Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...
, in a field consisting of nine-time Dortmund champion and former World Champion
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...
, world No. 6
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shahriyar Hamid oglu Mammadyarov (; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is Azerbaijan's highest rated chess player. His personal best rating of 2820 makes him the sixth-h ...
, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, 2004 World Chess Championship challenger Peter Leko, and former Dortmund champion Arkadij Naiditsch. Facing Kramnik with the black pieces in the opening round, Quang Liêm held the former world champion to a draw, and after defeating the eventual winner Ponomariov in round 4, and Leko in round 5, Quang Liêm finished with five consecutive draws to secure clear second place with 5½/10 (+2=7-1) and a performance rating of 2776.
From August 28 to September 3, he participated in 1st Campomanes Memorial Cup Open in the Philippines. His final score was 7/9 (+5=4), a shared first place with Zhao Jun of China, who won on tiebreak score.
From 20 September to 4 October at
Khanty-Mansiysk
Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...
, Russia, Quang Liêm with the other Vietnamese players took part in 39th World Team Chess Championship. Playing on board one, Quang Liêm's score was +2=7-2.
2011
From February 7 to February 18, he once again participated in Aeroflot Open and successfully defended the title. His score was 6½/9, a shared first place with Nikita Vitiugov and
Evgeny Tomashevsky
Evgeny Yuryevich Tomashevsky (; born 1 July 1987) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2005. Tomashevsky is a two-time Russian Chess Champion (2015, 2019) and the 2009 European Chess Champion. He compe ...
. At the time he was the only player to have won Aeroflot Open twice, now having been matched by Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2015. His win automatically qualifies him for a return invitation to the Dortmund Invitational tournament, where he competed in a field that included
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...
,
Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru NakamuraRuslan Ponomariov among others.
From May 10 to May 21, he was invited to play in the Elite group of the Capablanca Memorial tournament, a very strong field of players (FIDE category 19) including reigning champion Vassily Ivanchuk, Latin America's number one Leinier Domínguez, Czech Republic's number one David Navara, Lázaro Bruzón of Cuba and Dmitry Andreikin of Russia. After the final round defeat to Ivanchuk, his score was 6½/10, a shared first place but ranked second after Ivanchuk via tiebreak score.
2012
From October 12 to 21, he participated in the SPICE Cup, the highest rated international invitational
round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...
Georg Meier
Georg "Schorsch" Meier (; 9 November 1910 – 19 February 1999) was a German Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer famous for being the first foreign winner of the prestigious Senior TT, the Blue Riband race of the Isle of Man TT Races, in 1939 ri ...
, and Csaba Balogh. He was undefeated but finished in a tie for second with Ding Liren, half point behind the winner Vachier-Lagrave. After the tournament, he accepted a 4-year scholarship to attend Webster University, starting in August 2013.
2013
From March 19 to 24, he participated in the HD Bank Cup Open, the highest rated international open tournament in Vietnam. He was undefeated with six wins, three draws, scoring 7½/9 and winning the tournament.
From May 16 to 26, he participated in the Asian Continental Championships, which was held in the Philippines. He finished at 4th place with a score of 6½/9. Quang Liêm won the blitz championship with 8½/9.
From June 6 to 8, he took part in the
World Rapid Chess Championship
The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under fast chess, rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE reco ...
, held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. He finished 4th, with 10/15, behind Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (11½/15), Ian Nepomniachtchi (11/15) and Alexander Grischuk (10½/15). After that he participated in World Blitz Chess Championship, which he won, scoring 20½/30. He is the first Vietnamese athlete to achieve the world champion title.
2014
From June 15 to 20 Quang Liêm competed in the 2014 World Rapid and Blitz Championships in
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
,
UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...
as the defending champion in blitz. At blitz Quang Liêm finished fourth with +12=4-5, behind the new champion
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru NakamuraNguyen Ngoc Truong Son, and other Vietnamese chess players took part in
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
in
Tromsø
Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. Quang Liêm scored 5½ points from 10 games (+3-2=5) at board 1.
College chess
Quang Liêm graduated with summa cum laude, obtaining a bachelor of science in finance and a bachelor of arts in management from Webster University in
St. Louis
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
, Missouri, US in May, 2017. While at Webster University, Quang Liêm played Board 1 for the national championship chess team under the leadership of
Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar (born April 19, 1969, as Polgár Zsuzsanna and often known as Zsuzsa Polgár) is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster. Polgár was Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. On FIDE's Elo rating system list of July 1984, a ...
, winning the President's Cup all four years as a student, 2014 through 2017.
2017
In March, Quang Liêm won the 7th HDBank tournament in
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025.
The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
, with total score 7 in 9 games (+5=4).
From 1 to 5 July, Quang Liêm participated in the World Open as the number 1 seed and finished at second place (behind Tigran L. Petrosian) with 7 points after 9 rounds.
From 8 to 18 July, Quang Liêm participated in Danzhou SuperGrandmaster Tournament in Danzhou, China. His result of 5½/9 (+2=7) earned him second place behind the winner
Wei Yi
Wei Yi (; born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the 9th youngest in history. He is the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2700, accomplishing this feat ...
, having the same number of points as Ding Liren but a worse tiebreak.
From 13 to 19 of August, Quang Liêm was invited to the Saint Louis rapid and blitz event of the Grand Chess Tour, with attendance of top super-grandmasters, including the return of Garry Kasparov. He shared the 5th place with Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez. In the event Quang Liêm won against Caruana, Aronian, Nakamura and Kasparov.
In early September he competed in the FIDE World Cup in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
Ashgabat
Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...
, Turkmenistan. He won the gold medal with 5½ points after 7 games in the individual classical category. Then he also won, together with Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, the team rapid and blitz categories.
2018
In the second Danzhou super-grandmaster tournament with all 8 participants with Elo higher than 2700, Quang Liêm finished second with 4/7 (+2=4-1). His only loss was to Bu Xiangzhi. Quang Liêm defeated
Vidit Gujrathi
Vidit Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Gujrathi attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating of 27 ...
Xingtai
Xingtai ( zh, s= , t=邢臺, p=Xíngtái , w=Hsing2-tʻai2), formerly known as Xingzhou and Shunde, is a prefecture-level city in southern Hebei province, People's Republic of China. It has a total area of and administers 4 districts, 2 coun ...
, China, becoming the first Vietnamese player ever to do so. Soon after he also won the Summer Classic A tournament in St. Louis, US and the World Open (after a playoff with Jeffery Xiong) in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, US.
2021
In 2021 Quang Liêm participated in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2021. He scored 30 points across the tour, placing him 10th out of the 41 total tour participants. Consequently, he narrowly missed out on the tour finals. His most successful tournament in the tour was the Chessable Masters, where he beat super grandmasters Alireza Firouzja and Levon Aronian on his way to the final where he lost to Wesley So.
In the same year, Le took the offer to be the chess coach at his alma mater Webster University, succeeding
Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar (born April 19, 1969, as Polgár Zsuzsanna and often known as Zsuzsa Polgár) is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster. Polgár was Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. On FIDE's Elo rating system list of July 1984, a ...
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
.
In March, he played in the second leg of the Champions Chess Tour, Charity Cup. He had a dominant qualifying, placing first with the score of 32/45 (football scoring, +9=5-1). He beat David Navara in the quarterfinal, but lost to
Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Jan-Krzysztof Duda (; born 26 April 1998) is a Polish Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. A Chess prodigy, prodigy, he achieved the grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and . he is ranked No. 1 in Poland and No. 17 in the FIDE w ...
in the semifinal.
In April, at the Oslo Esports Cup, in contention for the championship, he beat
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
but was unable to secure a win over Jorden Van Foreest. In the end, the Cup went to Jan-Krzysztof Duda (14 points), ahead of Le Quang Liem (13 points), Magnus Carlsen (12 points), and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, (12 points).
In July, Quang Liêm won the 2022 Biel Chess Festival with a score of 35.5.
In August (15-22), Quang Liêm participated at FTX Crypto Cup and finished fourth after
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
In April, the Webster University Chess Team won its sixth national collegiate chess title under the guidance of Coach Quang Liêm. This was Webster's first national chess title since 2017, when Lê Quang Liêm was still a student.
In July, Quang Liêm defended his title at the 2023 Biel Chess Festival with a score of 32.5.
Notable tournament results
*2005 World Championship (U14), Belfort (Classical) 1st 9/11
*2008 Dragon Capital VietNam Chess Open (Classical) 1st 8/9
*2009 Kolkata Open (classical) 1st 8/10
*2010 Aeroflot Open (classical) 1st 7/9
*2010 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (classical) 2nd 5.5/10
*2010 Campomanes Memorial (classical) 2nd 7/9
*2010 Moscow Open (Classical) 3rd 7/9
*2011 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 4th 6.5/9
*2011 TATA Steel (Group B) 4th 7.5/13
*2011 Aeroflot Open (classical) 1st 6.5/9
*2011 Capablanca (classical) 2nd 6.5/10
*2011 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (classical) 2nd 5.5/10
*2011 SPICE Cup (classical) 1st 17/10 (football score system)
*2012 HD BANK Cup (classical) 2nd 7.5/9
*2012 FIDE World Blitz Championship 7th 16.5/30
*2012 SPICE Cup (Classical) 2nd 5.5/10
*2012 Chess Olympiad Istanbul 2012 5th 8/11
*2013 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 1st 7.5/9
*2013 Asian Continental Chess Championships 4th 6.5/9
*2013 Asian Continental Blitz Chess Championships 1st 8.5/9
*2013 FIDE World Rapid Championships 4th 10/15
*2013 FIDE World Blitz Championships 1st 20.5/30
*2013 SPICE Cup (Classical) 3rd 6/9
*2014 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 3rd 7/9
*2014 FIDE World Blitz Championships 4th 14/21
*2015 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 1st 7.5/9
*2015 President's Cup (Armageddon) 1st 10/24
*2015 Millionaire Chess Open (Classical) 2nd 6/7
*2015 SPICE Cup (Classical) 1st 7/9
*2016 College Final Four (Classical) 1st 3/3
*2016 Asian Nations Cup (Blitz) 1st 4.5/5
*2016 Asian Continental Chess Championships 2nd 6.5/9
*2016 Asian Continental Blitz Chess Championships 2nd 7/9
*2017 HD BANK Cup (Classical) 1st 7.0/9
*2017 Danzhou Super Chess Grandmaster Tournament (Classical) 2nd 5.5/9
*2017 St. Louis, Grand Chess Tour (rapid and blitz) : tied 5th (10 players in the tourney).
*2017 AIMAG (Asian Indoor and Martial Art Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan) : 1st 5.5/7 (classical) and gold medals in team rapid and blitz categories.