Chess star to play multiple games with fans
Updated : Mon, February 20, 2012,3:52 PM (GMT+0700)
Tuoi Tre
Vietnamese chess star Le Quang Liem will play multiple games with 20 amateur players who are his fans this Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City.
The event, which will take place at HDBank’s headquarters on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1, is a warm-up activity for the International Chess Tournament HDBank Cup 2012.
8-year-old Truong Ngo Minh Hanh, a second grader in Thu Duc District, is the youngest out of the 20 luckiest fans who won drawing lots to play with the grandmaster.
“Hanh is extremely happy,” his mother told Tuoi Tre. “He is counting down to the challenge day.”
Meanwhile, 70-year-old Bui Van Chuong is the oldest player. Chuong, who used to play in the US Chess Federation, said he had joined several simultaneous games with former world champions such as Tigran Petrosian, and Anatoly Karpov.
“I want nothing more than a chance to play with Vietnam’s No. 1 chess player Le Quang Liem.”
For his part, 11-year-old Nguyen Nho Trong, who has been the champion of the chess tournament at his school for the last few years, said he would use all of his savings to pay for the trip to HCMC to meet and play with his idol.
The event’s organizing board said Liem would select one of the matches to be awarded the “Best Game” title.
The International Chess Tournament HDBank Cup 2012 will run from March 2 – 7 at HDBank’s headquarters, with participation of nearly 100 players from Vietnam, China, Russia, India, Ukraine, and Gruzia.
Total cash prizes of the event are worth around US$30,000. The champion of the men’s category will receive $10,000, and the runner-up, $5,000.
Liem has just come back from Russia, where he failed to defend the championships he earned in two consecutive years of the 2012 Aeroflot Open.
Source: http://www.tuoitrenews.vn
Anyone as a chance to beat him?