Le
Quang Liem is on track to defend his title at the Russian International Chess
Festival Aeroflot Open in Moscow.

Le Quang Liem.

Liem won his first
round match over Andrey Zhigalko of Bulgaria on Tuesday and this afternoon will
meet Chinese Xiu Deshun who beat Romain Edouard of France.

Liem’s strongest
rivals include six international super grandmasters and eight international
grandmasters, including Gata Kamsky of the US, Sergei Movsesian of Armnia,
Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia and Maxime Vachier Lagrave of France.

Competitors range from
unrated to highly rated taking part in three open tournaments, each of which is
a nine-round Swiss event.

Liem is among 130
candidates in tournament A, the highest level, competing for a bonus of 20,000
euros (US$29,300) for the title winner who also will be entitled to participate
in a round-robin Super Tournament in Dortmund in the second half of July.

There will also be
prizes for the best performance among seniors, women and juniors in all
tournaments and a prize for the best result by an unrated player in tournament
C.

The festival will
conclude on February 17.

Viet
Nam moves up in rankings

Viet Nam climbed two
steps in world ranking in February, the world football authority, FIFA, has
announced.

Despite no
international match since January, Viet Nam still earned 172 points to reach
134th position.

The team is 21st in
the Asian region, near their target of being in the top 20 in the continent.
Among Southeast Asian competitors in the world ranking, they are third behind
Thailand at 120th in the world and Indonesia at 129.

On the women’s side,
Viet Nam are 34th in the world. Their failure at December’s Asian Women’s
Football Championship put them second in the Southeast Asian area behind
Thailand although they are the SEA Games defending champions.

The next ranking will
be announced on March 9.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News