Quang Liem won the number two Chinese player

Defending champion Quang Liem (Elo 2,728) climbed to the top of the Biel Grandmaster 2023 table thanks to the victory of the number one seed Duong Duong Y (2,735) after 36 moves. The number two Chinese player holds a white piece and does not join the castle with the goal of creating an unbalanced position to win. However, Black has a big advantage right after the opening and the key comes in the 17th move when White jumps to e2. Du's intention was to break the center by pushing well e3-e4-e5, but Quang Liem never gave his opponent the opportunity to do that.

After 24 moves, the computer judged Black to have the upper hand, when the white king in cell g1 was dangerous on the semi-open column. The white car in h1 was locked by the king and pawn and could not participate in the battle. Since deciding not to join the castle in country 13, perhaps Du did not anticipate this scenario.

Du for many years is the number two player in China, after Dinh Lap Nhan (Ding Liren) - a player who has just won the world championship. According to FIDE statistics, this is the fourth time Quang Liem has beaten Du in standard chess, and all of them were when he held black. Du also won four games against Quang Liem and drew nine. The 29-year-old player once achieved a high Elo of 2,765 in September 2018, and entered the Top 10 in the world a year later.

Quang Liem climbed to the top of the Biel Grandmaster table after this match with 29.5 points. Vincent Keymer (2,690) and David Navara (2,689) are second with 27.5 points. With the current two-point difference, Quang Liem can be crowned one round early if the sixth round results are favorable.

The Biel Grandmaster is the highest level tournament of the annual chess festival in Biel, Switzerland. This year's Grandmaster table invites eight players, with an average Elo of 2,699. Players compete in three types of chess: standard, fast and lightning. Quang Liem has the fastest chess results in fifth, the blitz chess second, and the standard chess first with four wins.

The tournament only has two standard chess games ahead. At 7pm on Tuesday, July 25, Hanoi time, Quang Liem will hold the white piece to meet Jules Moussard (2,654) in game six. A day later, he played the last game, holding the black piece against Navara.