This was Liem’s debut at the Leon Masters, a long-standing rapid chess tournament featuring a four-player knockout format. The 2025 edition brought together four notable players - Viswanathan Anand, Jaime Santos Latasa (Spain), 11-year-old prodigy Faustino Oro (Argentina), and Le Quang Liem himself.

In the final, Liem drew the first game but went on to win the next two convincingly, capitalising on sharp play and time pressure. The fourth and final game ended in a draw, securing Liem the title without the need for blitz tiebreakers.

His opponent, 55-year-old Anand, is a former World Champion and the first Asian player to reach World No.1. Despite being beyond his prime, Anand remains a formidable opponent, currently holding FIDE rankings of 13th in classical, 11th in rapid, and 18th in blitz.

This marks another major victory for Le Quang Liem, who chose to skip the Biel Grandmasters Tournament in Switzerland this year where he had won three consecutive titles to compete in Leon instead.

Last month, he earned an individual gold at the 2025 World Rapid Team Championship in London, competing for Team Freedom, a star-studded squad that comprised Anand himself, Rauf Mamedov, Samuel Sevian, Alexey Sarana, Haik M. Martirosyan, Anna Muzychuk, Teodora Injac, and Sarbartho Mani.

Quang Liem defeats top US player to win prestigious online chess tournament

VOV.VN - Le Quang Liem triumphed in the Titled Tuesday online chess tournament, outplaying the world’s number one American-Japanese player, Hikaru Nakamura.