Summer Chess Classic: Le Quang Liem wins the A tournament

by Klaus Besenthal
7/1/2019 – Over the weekend at the Saint Louis Chess Club, the trio of tournaments comprising the "Summer Chess Classic" came to an end after 10 rounds of action. The most Elo-heavy 'A' tournament was won by the Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem with 6.0/10. David Howell (England) and Jeffery Xiong (USA) each scored 5½ points. The winner of the B tournament was Grigoriy Oparin (Russia, 6.5 / 10); The C tournament was won by Arturs Neiksans (Latvia, 6.5 / 10). | Photo: Crystal Fuller

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

Oparin undefeated in the B group

A tournament

This Summer Classic win made it two in a row for the Vietnamese Le Quang Liem; immediately before the tournament in Saint Louis he had won the title of Asian Champion in Xingtai, China.

At the half-way point, Le was actually tied for dead last, licking his wounds from a second round loss to US #1 Junior Jeffrey Xiong. But he turned it around in a big way over the course of the second half scoring 4 points out of five games.

A critical win came in Round 9, when he defeated the English number one Gawain Jones from a difficult-to-understand middlegame situation:

 

David Howell discussing with Le Quang Liem | Photo: Austin Fuller

Final standings

 

Click or tap any result to open the game via Live.ChessBase.com

All games

 

B tournament

The B tournament was dominated by 21-year-old Russian Grigoriy Oparin, who finished with a 1½ point edge over his two most persistent pursuers after the 10 rounds. The next best, Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Igor Kovalenko, managed just 50%.

Grigoriy Oparin | Photo: Austin Fuller

Final standings

 

All games

 

C tournament

In the C tournament, the Latvian Arturs Neiksans was the only undefeated player ending with 6½/10 and took the tournament victory.

Arturs Neiksans | Photo: Austin Fuller

Final standings

 

All games

 

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

Links


Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register