First Vietnamese crowned world chess championship

Vietnam’s international grandmaster Le Quang Liem, with an Elo rating of 2712, yesterday won the World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2013, held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Liem, ranked 30th in the world, won the title with 20.5 points after 30 games, thus becoming the first world chess champion from Vietnam.

Under regulations of the blitz chess competitions, each competitor plays 30 rounds on two leg formation. Players have three minutes and two seconds for each move.

With the title, Liem received a cash award of US$40,000. Previously, Liem had obtained another prize of $22,500 for finishing fourth in the rapid chess event at the tournament.

The 2012 blitz chess champion, Alexander Grischuk of Russia, came in second with 20 points, and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine won the bronze medal.

Sixty chess players from 18 countries took part in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship, held from June 6 – 10. The prize fund of the championship was $400,000.