The “Road to EWC” tournament took place at the Georgia World Congress Center from May 15 to 17, bringing together 32 elite chess players competing for qualification spots to the world’s largest esports event.

Starting from the quarterfinal stage, Le Quang Liem defeated Grandmaster Oleksandr Bortnyk (Ukraine) with a 1-0 score to advance to the semifinals. However, Vietnam’s top player later lost 0-1 to Alexey Sarana (Serbia).

Dropped into the lower bracket, the Vietnamese GM showed strong resilience by defeating Andrey Esipenko (Russia) 2-0. Although he lost the rematch against Alexey Sarana (Russia) 0.5–1.5, he still finished the tournament in third place overall.

This result placed Liem among the top four players of the event, earning him an official qualification for the Esports World Cup 2026, scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia from July 6 to August 23.

This marks the second consecutive year that chess has been included as an official discipline in the Esports World Cup. Players compete directly against each other but on digital platforms.

Qualifying for EWC 2026 is considered a significant milestone in Liem’s career, especially as he continues to strengthen his comeback in elite chess after stepping down from his teaching role at Webster University in the United States.

Before the World Cup in July, Liem will take part in another Esports tournament in Thailand, the ASEAN Esports Chess, which brings together 11 of the best chess players representing Southeast Asian countries, along with five strong international players.

Liem will represent Vietnam, while famous athlete Magnus Carlsen (Norway) is a guest player. The two could face each other if they are in the same bracket or advance further in the tournament.

This is not the first time Le Quang Liem has faced the "king of chess." He previously defeated the Norwegian player in 2022.

The tournament starts on June 13, with a prize pool of over VND520 million.

Quang Liem set to meet Carlsen at ASEAN Esports Chess Cup event in Thailand

VOV.VN - Vietnamese No.1 chess grandmaster Le Quang Liem could face Norwegian chess star Magnus Carlsen at the ASEAN Esports Chess Cup event to be held in Thailand in June.