Son makes a comeback; Liem tastes a win
Posted by Bao Viet Nam on August 11, 2008
HA NOI — Chinese Grand Master Li Chao defeated Vietnamese Le Quang Liem to take the lead of the World Junior Chess Championship with 5.5 points after the sixth round on Thursday in Turkey.
It was the first failure for Viet Nam’s grand master at the tournament, where participants will play 13 rounds total to select the winner.
GM Liem’s loss pushed him down the ranking table from eighth to 14th, while Li kept his top position.
He was followed by GM David Howell of Britain who held out against Women’s GM Yifan Hou of China and German International Master (IM) Arik Braun who scored another win on Thursday.
The day wasn’t all bad for Viet Nam. Liem’s team-mate, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, enjoyed a victory after two disappointing days. Son easily pocketed his win over FIDE Master (FM) Niccolo Ronchetti of Italy. The win was expected as the Italian ranked lower than him on world rankings.
Now with four points, Son jumped from the 27th place to 16th at the tournament.
Players will enjoy a day off today before competing again where Son will meet IM Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway while Liem will face Brkic.
The two Vietnamese representatives are favourites of the competition, as Liem is seed No 10 and Son is No 9.
On the girls’ side, Ukrainian WGM Mariya Muzychuk scored an important victory against the previous leader WFM Tatev Abrahamyan of the US to share the lead with IM Dronavalli Harika from India.
Harika won against WIM Gulmira Dauletova of Kazakhstan while her team-mate WFM Guliskan Nakhbayeva took down WIM Mary Ann Gomes of India.
All three winners leading the board share first place with five points.
The annual championships are held from August 2-16 under the auspices of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and with the organisation of the Turkish Chess Federation and Sehitkamil Municipality. There are 195 players from 60 countries taking part in the event. —
