VietNamNet Bridge – As soon as finishing the international open chess tournament in the UK, Le Quang Liem went to Russia to attend the Aeroflot Open. He has protected his championship at the Aeroflot Open by winning the first two rounds.
This year Aeroflot Open has attracted 77 world chess players, of which 20 are in the world top 100, to play at the A level for international chess champions. Le Quang Liem has attended this tournament as an Aeroflot champion for two years in a row. His objective at this year tournament is to defend his championship.
He is not alone there this year. Le Quang Long – his brother – also took part as a B level player.
The first two rounds were really good start for Liem.
He defeated the host champion – Boris Savchenko (Elo 2609). This player used to be the champion of the Baku Open 2009 held in Azerbaijan. It was easy for Liem to win over Boris after 32 steps.
In the second round, he played with Eduardo Iturrizaga – a Venezuelan champion (Elo 2649). This round was quite tough for Liem when Iturrizaga applied a good defending strategy. Both players accepted same scores.
In the third round, Liem will play with Viorel Iordachescu, Moldova (Elo 2651). Currently, he earns 1.5 points after the two rounds.
Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn
He can do it since Nakamura isn’t playing. Otherwise, he would have no chance.