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Le Quang Liem
Biography
Lê Quang Liêm was born on 13 March 1991 in Ho Chi Minh City and was awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE in 2006, at age fifteen. He built his early reputation on the open-tournament circuit in Europe and Asia, winning the Aeroflot Open in Moscow in back-to-back years, 2010 and 2011, and taking Vietnam's own HDBank Cup on three separate occasions (2013, 2015, 2017). He later moved to the United States, graduating summa cum laude from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2017 with degrees in finance and management, and since 2021 has served as head coach of the university's chess team, succeeding Susan Polgar.
His signature individual result came at the 2013 World Blitz Chess Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, where he scored 20½/30 to become the first Vietnamese player to win a FIDE world championship title. Six years later he added a continental crown, winning the 2019 Asian Chess Championship in Xingtai, China — again the first Vietnamese player to claim that title.
Liêm represented Vietnam at five consecutive Chess Olympiads between 2006 and 2014, rising from board four as a teenager to the top board by 2010. His finest team performance came at the 2012 Istanbul Olympiad, where he scored 8/10 on board one as Vietnam finished 7th, the country's best-ever placing at a Chess Olympiad. More recently he has twice won the Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland, defending his title in 2023 after first winning it in 2022.
Key achievements
- World Blitz Chess Champion: 2013, Khanty-Mansiysk — first Vietnamese FIDE world champion
- Asian Chess Champion: 2019, Xingtai — first Vietnamese player to win the title
- Chess Olympiad, Istanbul 2012: 8/10 on board one, Vietnam's best-ever team finish (7th)
- Aeroflot Open champion: 2010, 2011
- Biel Chess Festival champion: 2022, 2023
Ratings
| Date | Milestone | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Awarded the grandmaster title (age 15) | — |
| 2013 | World Blitz Chess Champion, Khanty-Mansiysk | — |
| 2019 | Asian Chess Champion, Xingtai | — |
| Aug 2024 | Career-peak FIDE rating | 2741 |
| Sep 2026 | Current rating — world No. 18 | 2732 |
Titles
| Title | Years | Count |
|---|---|---|
| GM | Grandmaster, awarded by FIDE in 2006 | — |
| World Blitz | 2013, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia — scored 20½/30 | 1× |
| Asian Ch. | 2019, Xingtai, China — first Vietnamese winner | 1× |
Classical Tournaments
| Year | Tournament | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Dragon Capital Vietnam Chess Open | 1st |
| 2009 | Kolkata Open | 1st |
| 2010 | Aeroflot Open, Moscow | 1st |
| 2010 | Dortmund Sparkassen Meeting | 2nd |
| 2011 | Aeroflot Open, Moscow (title defense) | T-1st |
| 2011 | Dortmund Sparkassen Meeting | 2nd |
| 2011 | Capablanca Memorial (tied 1st on points) | 2nd |
| 2013 | HDBank Cup, Ho Chi Minh City | 1st |
| 2015 | HDBank Cup, Ho Chi Minh City | 1st |
| 2015 | Millionaire Chess Open | 2nd |
| 2017 | HDBank Cup, Ho Chi Minh City | 1st |
| 2017 | Danzhou Super GM Tournament (behind Wei Yi) | 2nd |
| 2017 | World Open (behind Tigran L. Petrosian) | 2nd |
| 2022 | Biel Chess Festival | 1st |
| 2023 | Biel Chess Festival (title defense) | 1st |
Team Events
| Year | Event (Board) | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Chess Olympiad, Turin (Board 4) | 9½/13 |
| 2008 | Chess Olympiad, Dresden (Board 2) | 8/11 |
| 2009 | Asian Team Chess Championship, India — silver (behind hosts) | — |
| 2010 | Chess Olympiad, Khanty-Mansiysk (Board 1) | 5½/11 |
| 2012 | Chess Olympiad, Istanbul (Board 1) — Vietnam's best-ever finish, 7th | 8/10 |
| 2014 | Chess Olympiad, Tromsø (Board 1) | 5½/10 |
Source: OlimpBase (olimpbase.org) individual Olympiad records, cross-checked with Wikipedia.
Read more on Wikipedia or view his FIDE profile.