Quang Liem enters the final of Chessable Masters

Quang Liem started the second semi-final day in a dream. He drew with a white piece and then won with a black piece in the first two games. Since Quang Liem only needed to draw after four games on the second semi-final day, Aronian was forced to win the remaining two games to bring the match into the tie-break. The world number five player proved his bravery when he won both of those games.

In the third game, Quang Liem received his first defeat since the knockout round. He held the white piece, sometimes won the advantage but could not take advantage. Go to the end of the car and good, but Aronian shows better rhyme technique to win in a balanced position. In the fourth game, the Armenian player won again with the end of the car, but this time he was more than two good.

The match had to enter a series of two blitz games, when both missed the chance to win the game Aronian took the white piece. Quang Liem missed the winning shot, and Aronian also couldn’t find a winning technique in a symmetric good ending.

The semi-finals therefore had to be decided by a single armageddon match. White has five minutes, Black has four minutes to complete the game, with no extra time after each move. Draw game means White wins the match. Aronian gets to choose the color of his pieces, and he gets Black. The two players entered the balance, but after 69 moves, Aronian ran out of time and lost.

Quang Liem entered the final for the first time in a tournament under the Champions Chess Tour system – a tournament initiated by Chess King Magnus Carlsen, and will meet familiar opponent Wesley So. There was a time when So and Quang Liem compared the position of the number one player in Southeast Asia, or the number one young player in the world. So is of Filipino origin, but has been playing under the US flag since 2014 and naturalized in this country in February 2021. These two players also graduated from Webster University. So is two years younger than Quang Liem, but is ranked ninth in the world, 21 places ahead of his senior.

The final match of Chessable Masters will take place from 10pm on August 7, Hanoi time. The format is still the same as in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, when Quang Liem eliminated Alireza Firouzja and Aronian respectively. The winner of the final will advance to the Tour Finals.

Xuan Binh