Quang Liem achieved the best result at the Grand Chess Tour

Quang Liem won nine points from rapid chess and 11 points from blitz chess, ending the tournament with the same total score as world runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Vietnam's number one player is only one point behind champion Fabiano Caruana and half a point behind runner-up Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Quang Liem left the tournament with $22,500 in prize money, above the world's Top 10 players such as Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So and Anish Giri.

In his three previous Grand Chess Tour appearances, all in rapid and blitz formats, Quang Liem won 16.5 points at St Louis 2017, 19 points at Superbet 2019 and 17.5 points at St Louis 2021. Third place at St Louis 2023 is also the highest position Quang Liem has ever achieved in the Grand Chess Tour super tournament system.

The Grand Chess Tour is an annual tournament system, gathering the strongest invited players. Each year the system organizes five tournaments, including two standard tournaments and three blitz tournaments. Each tournament will have 10 players participating, mainly the world's Top 10 players and a few invitations for super grandmasters. Quang Liem attended St Louis this year as a special invitation, replacing Chess King Dinh Lap Nhan.

Quang Liem started well on the first day of the tournament with five points from three rapid games, with two wins and one draw. But in the next two days, he did not win any games, drew four and lost two. After the rapid game, he was tied for fourth place with four other players.

On the first day of blitz chess, Quang Lien scored 4.5 out of a possible nine points. He beat Samuel Sevian, Caruana, Firouzja and Giri, but lost to Vachier-Lagrave, So, Jeffery Xiong and Nepomniachtchi. The 32-year-old's only draw on the day was against Ray Robson, which dropped him to fifth place.

On the final day, Quang Liem broke through with 6.5 points, from five wins, three draws, and one loss. He defeated Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Xiong, Firouzja, Robson, tied with So, Nepomniachtchi, Giri, and only lost to Sevian.

According to the tournament format, each player will meet nine other players three times, including one rapid game and two blitz games. The only player Quang Liem did not win in the tournament was Nepomniachtchi, with one draw and two losses. Vietnam's number one player achieved his best result against Firouzja, with two wins and one draw.

After this tournament, six of the 10 players participating in the St Louis tournament will stay in this city to continue playing the Sinquefield Cup, without Quang Liem. The average Elo of the 10 players participating in the Sinquefield Cup is up to 2,754, and this is also the last tournament of this year's Grand Chess Tour.

St Louis Flash Results