Player Le Quang Liem beat the defending world champion
At the 2024 Chess Olympiad taking place in Budapest, Hungary, chess player Le Quang Liem impressed by defeating reigning world champion Ding Liren (Dinh Lap Nhan). This win helped Vietnam draw with China 2-2.
In the match at dawn on September 17 (Vietnam time), Le Quang Liem (Elo 2.741) held the black pieces to face an opponent with an Elo coefficient of 2.763. After 62 moves, the Vietnamese chess community witnessed a victory for the first time against the reigning standard chess world champion.
Dinh Lap Nhan is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is also the highest ranked Chinese player in history, having won the Chinese chess championship three times.
Lap Nhan is the first Chinese player to participate in the Candidates Tournament and surpass the 2,800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings.
In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2,875, he was the highest ranked Blitz player in the world. In July 2023, Lap Nhan became the number 1 ranked fast chess player, with a rating of 2,830.
Lap Nhan was undefeated in standard chess from August 2017 to November 2018, with 29 wins and 71 draws. This 100-game unbeaten streak was the longest in the history of top chess, until Magnus Carlsen surpassed it in 2019.
Le Quang Liem entered the match with quite a lot of pressure after in the previous 3 games, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Elo 2,633) and Le Minh Tuan (Elo 2,564) tied, while Tran Tuan Minh (Elo 2,434) lost to Wang. Yue (Vuong Nguyet, Elo 2.637).
Vietnamese players only have an advantage at the end of the match, both in terms of time and some weak moves of the opponent, before the end of the match. This is the most interesting game in round 6.
According to experts, a draw with the Chinese team is quite a surprising result for the Vietnamese team when the 4 opposing players have a higher average Elo (2,710 compared to 2,593).
Before drawing with China, Le Quang Liem and his teammates won against both defending champion Uzbekistan and Poland - the 11th seed.
Currently, the Vietnamese men's team is ranked 2nd with 11 points (5 wins, 1 draw), behind the Indian team, which won all 6 matches. The two teams, China and Iran, also have 11 points but have a lower coefficient.
Today, September 17, the tournament will be closed. The 7th match on September 18 witnessed the confrontation of the Top 4. While the Indian team plays the Chinese team, the Vietnamese team will play the Iranian team.
This year, Olympiad - The tournament is considered the Olympics of chess, taking place from September 10 to 23, marking 100 years of tournament history.
