Quang Liem was eliminated despite drawing with Carlsen at Chessable Masters
The match did not have many elements of surprise, except in the first game when Carlsen held the white piece, pushing well the g-pillar to weaken himself. The computer assessed that Quang Liem had a slight advantage in the opening, but the number one player in Vietnam could not take advantage and accepted a draw.
In the second game, Quang Liem and Carlsen both hit firmly, achieving 98% of the moves with the computer, so they continued to draw. Therefore, the match entered the mortal armageddon game. White had more time, with 15 minutes, but had to win the game to advance.
Before armageddon, the two players will bet time on Black, and whoever comes up with the lower number gets to hold the black piece for that time. Quang Liem bet 10 minutes 58 seconds, and Carlsen bet 10 minutes 29, so the Norwegian player can hold Black.
He took the white piece and had to win, but Quang Liem let Carlsen change pieces in succession, taking the two queens off the board in move 14. By move 23, the position had entered the end of the game in balance and there was no chance for White to win. The two players continue to play until there are only two kings left on the board in move 46, which means a tie.
Carlsen believes that Quang Liem lacks luck when betting on time, and also did not choose the opening well in the deciding game. "I have a pretty comfortable position after the opening, so I can change all the pieces," added the five-time world champion.
Carlsen continues to the second round of the losing bracket and will meet Wesley So - the loser Hikaru Nakamura in the semi-finals of the winning bracket. Quang Liem was eliminated after losing two matches against Fabiano Caruana and Carlsen, receiving $7,500 in prize money. Also eliminated with Quang Liem in this round is Vladimir Fedoseev. The first place Chessable Masters 2023 has only six players left, of which Caruana and Nakamura all won two matches, while Carlsen, So, Aronian and Vladislav Artemiev all won one and lost one.
Vietnam is also clean with representatives in the remaining two classes, after the second test day. Le Tuan Minh lost 0.5-1.5 to Aleksey Dreev in the first round of the losing bracket, leaving with $3,000 in prize money. And Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son won against David Paravyan to enter the top 8 of third place, but then lost to Matthias Bluebaum and was eliminated, receiving $ 1,800.
Chessable Masters taking place from April 3 to April 7 is the second tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2023 system, after Airthings Masters. This time, all three Vietnamese players passed the qualifying round in March 2023, to enter three different divisions. First place consists of eight top players, second place 16 and third place 32 people, competing in a dual format, with a prize fund of 235,000 USD. A player who loses two matches will be disqualified, and the winner of each class will not lose more than one match.
