MANILA, Philippines - Top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam outduelled GM Wesley So in the keenly-watched battle between two of Asia’s top young players in the action-packed fifth round of the first Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup chess championship at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Le, who shocked the chess world when he finished runner-up in the prestigious Dortmund Chess Meeting behind GM Ruslan Ponomariov last July 15-25, defeated the second-seeded So in only 38 moves of the Slav.
The 19-year-old campaigner from Ho Chi Minh City, whose string of successes included a title romp in the ninth Aeroflot Open in Moscow with a score of 7/9 last February and a four-way tie for first place in the Moscow Open, emerged from a difficult middle game battle with a decisive advantage over the black-playing Filipino champion.
Le also defeated compatriot Nguyen Huyn Minh in the fourth round late Monday.