Quang Liem achieved the best result at the Grand Chess Tour

American Le Quang Liem finished the St Louis Rapid Chess Super Tournament in joint third place, with his highest score ever being 20.

Quang Liem won nine points in rapid chess, and 11 points in blitz chess, finishing the tournament with the same total as world runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Vietnamese number one was only one point behind champion Fabiano Caruana, and half a point behind runner-up Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Quang Liem left the tournament with $22,500 in prize money, ahead of the world's Top 10 players such as Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So and Anish Giri.

Le Quang Liem at a Grand Chess Tour blitz match in St Louis, Missouri, USA, November 18, 2023. Photo: GCT — Le Quang Liem at a Grand Chess Tour blitz match in St Louis, Missouri, USA, November 18, 2023. Photo: *GCT*

In his three previous Grand Chess Tour appearances, all in rapid and blitz formats, Quang Liem won 16.5 points at St Louis 2017, 19 points at Superbet 2019 and 17.5 points at St Louis 2021. Third place at St Louis 2023 is also the highest position Quang Liem has ever achieved in the Grand Chess Tour super tournament system.

The Grand Chess Tour is an annual tournament system, gathering the strongest invited players. Each year the system organizes five tournaments, including two standard tournaments and three rapid tournaments. Each tournament will have 10 players participating, mainly the world's Top 10 players and a few invitations for Super Grandmasters. Quang Liem attended St Louis this year as a special invitation, replacing Chess King Dinh Lap Nhan.

Quang Liem started well on the first day of the tournament with five points from three rapid games, with two wins and one draw. But in the next two days, he did not win any games, drew four and lost two. After the rapid game, he was tied for fourth place with four other players.

On the first day of blitz chess, Quang Liem scored 4.5 out of a possible nine points. He beat Samuel Sevian, Caruana, Firouzja and Giri, but lost to Vachier-Lagrave, So, Jeffery Xiong and Nepomniachtchi. The 32-year-old's only draw on the day came against Ray Robson, dropping him to fifth place.

On the final day, Quang Liem broke through with 6.5 points, from five wins, three draws, and one loss. He defeated Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Xiong, Firouzja, Robson, drew with So, Nepomniachtchi, Giri, and only lost to Sevian.

According to the tournament format, each player will meet nine other players three times, including one rapid game and two blitz games. The only player Quang Liem did not win in the tournament was Nepomniachtchi, with one draw and two losses. The three-time champion HDBank achieved the best result against Firouzja, with two wins and one draw.

After this tournament, six of the 10 players participating in the St Louis tournament will stay in this city to continue playing the Sinquefield Cup, without Quang Liem. The average Elo of the 10 players participating in the Sinquefield Cup is up to 2,754, and this is also the last tournament of this year's Grand Chess Tour.

St Louis Flash Results

TT	Chess player	League	Point	Bonus
1	Caruana	America	21	40,000 USD
2	Vachier-Lagrave	France	20.5	30,000 USD
3	Quang Liem	Vietnam	20	22,500 USD
3	Nepomniachtchi	FIDE	20	22,500 USD
5	Firouzja	France	18.5	15,000 USD
6	So	America	17	10,500 USD
6	Robson	America	17	10,500 USD
8	Sevian	America	16.5	9,000 USD
9	Giri	Netherlands	16	8,000 USD
10	Xiong	America	13.5	7,000 USD