Quang Liem was eliminated in the Chess World Cup
Quang Liem was weak at times in all four quick games in the tie-break on August 7, including a defeat in the third game when holding a white piece. In the positional position in this game, the Vietnamese player did not have a good strategy, causing the white statue to be locked by the pawns. Ponomariov took advantage of the advantage of two horses in the closed position, caught a pawn from Quang Liem and won after 57 moves.
The failure to hold the white piece made it difficult for Quang Liem, because he had to win when holding the black piece in the decisive game. The 32-year-old failed to do so and was held to a draw, causing him to lose 1.5-2.5 in four quick games, after drawing both standard games.
Quang Liem could not repeat the best achievement of his career - entering the fourth round of the chess World Cup. And Ponomariov showed the bravery of the FIDE champion in the period 2002-2004 to go on to meet Ferenc Berkes. Despite being 40 years old, the Ukrainian player is strong in the knock-out format, having finished second in the 2005 and 2009 Chess World Cups, as well as in the 2011 semi-finals. However, Quang Liem was initially appreciated. due to a slight 90 Elo in standard chess compared to Ponomariov.
After four standard games with a draw in the Chess World Cup, Quang Liem lost 6.8 Elo, causing the coefficient to drop to 2,733, currently ranked 17th in the world.
The third round also saw a few players eliminated such as Anish Giri, Duong Yuong, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave or Teimour Radjabov. There are 32 players left in the fourth round, with the matches worth waiting for between masters and young talents such as Magnus Carlsen - Vincent Keymer, Hikaru Nakamura - Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, or Ian Nepomniachtchi - Nihal Sarin. Game one of the fourth round takes place from 6pm on Wednesday 9/8, because today is a holiday.
The Chess World Cup, which takes place every two years, is the largest individual tournament. This year's tournament took place in Baku city, Azerbaijan, from July 30 to August 24, with 206 players in the Open group and 103 players in the Women's group. The players compete in the knockout stage, selecting the top three players in each group to attend the Candidates.
