Vietnam’s No. 1 chess player Le Quang Liem claims Leon Masters 2025 championship

The opening game unfolded with mutual caution as both players calculated precisely, resulting in a draw.

The match’s turning point arrived in the second game, where Liem, playing white, seized on Anand’s unexpected error.

He found a tactical blow that forced Anand into sacrificing a knight to rescue his trapped queen.

With a material advantage secured, Liem played flawlessly and secured a decisive win.

The third game concluded in just over 20 minutes, during which Liem, now with black, maintained pressure in the endgame by advancing a pawn toward queening.

Faced with the prospect of sacrificing another knight to stop the pawn, Anand chose to resign on move 34.

The final game ended in a draw, cementing Liem’s 3–1 victory and championship title.

Across their ten Elo-rated encounters so far, Liem has remained undefeated against Anand, with five wins and five draws.

Although most of these games occurred after Anand’s peak, it is notable that the Indian chess grandmaster still holds higher Elo ratings than Liem in all three time controls—standard, rapid, and blitz.

In the rapid format, Anand holds an Elo rating of 2727, compared to Liem’s 2655.

In chess, Elo refers to a system used to calculate a player's relative skill level.