Liêm advances in World Cup, Khôi becomes Grandmaster

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s No  一 Lê Quang Liêm advanced to the FIDE World Cup’s second after beating Aleksandrov Aleksej of Belarus in a playoff early this morning in Russia.

Grandmaster Liêm drew with Aleksej in the first two matches of the first round. They had to compete in a three-game tie break in which the former world blitz chess champion Liêm won one and drew two.

As one of  六 四 competitors in the second round, Liêm has pocketed a US$ 一0,000 bonus. He will next play Anton Korobov of Ukraine.

Việt Nam have two representatives at the World Cup but GM Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn has been knocked out.