Quang Liem: 'I'm in high form'

Quang Liem at the same time achieved three important milestones in Biel Grandmaster, defending the championship on the evening of July 26, achieving the best Elo of 2,740 and the highest 16th position in FIDE of his career. "All three of these achievements mean something special to me," he said. "Defending the championship shows that I am in high form. Reaching Elo and high FIDE rank is also a milestone."

The number one player in Vietnam drew the final game of standard chess, but still won the Biel Grandmaster 2023 because Vincent Keymer lost to Arjun Erigaisi in the last game of the day. Keymer only needed a draw to win the title, so he tried to hold out against Erigaisi despite being in a losing position from the middle. After more than seven and a half hours of competition, Keymer asked to lose and that means the second consecutive championship for Quang Liem.

Quang Liem said that after the 71.Re5 move, he could be sure that Erigaisi would win. "Because at that time Erigaisi had achieved the position of Lucena - the basic endgame theory that every player can learn," he explained. "Previously the computer assessed the advantage of winning very early, but I know the reality of the competition is not easy."

Last year, Quang Liem also won the title as the number one seed, among eight players with an average Elo of 2,683. This year's tournament is stronger as the 32-year-old is only the second seed of eight players with an average Elo of 2,699. Quang Liem said he regrets not performing well in fast chess, but is satisfied with his performance in standard chess. "Last year I won four, drew one, lost two games of standard chess, and this year I won four, drew two and lost only one game," he said. "Standard chess is the primary yardstick for every professional player anyway."

When asked about his favorite game in the tournament, Quang Liem said that the most important thing is the overall result. "If I win the number one seed but lose to the other players and end up in the second half of the scoreboard, I can't be happy," he added. "But if you lose to the lowest ranked player in the tournament and win the other players and win, the tournament will be very successful."

After this tournament, Quang Liem will go to the 2023 Chess World Cup in Baku Azerbaijan, taking place from the end of July. The World Cup format is still a knockout, but the number of rounds increased from seven to eight. The HD Bank 2017 champion is the 15th seed, exempted from the first round. "I don't set specific goals, but just try to work hard in each game," he said of this important individual tournament.