In the early morning of July 6 (Vietnam time), Le Quang Liem entered the final match against home player Jaime Santos.
A year ago, Le Quang Liem won the tournament when he defeated famous grandmaster Viswanathan Anand.
After 1 year, Le Quang Liem continues to participate in the decisive match for the championship at Leon Masters 2026.
However, the overall victory did not come for the Vietnamese player.
Starting the first quick chess game in the final against Jaime Santos, Le Quang Liem played cautiously even though he was led by a white team.
However, chess player Jaime Santos neutralized Quang Liem's dominant moves to surpass and win after 46 moves.
In the 2nd set, Le Quang Liem and Jamie Santos continued to play with concentration, thereby keeping a draw after 36 moves.
In the 3rd set, Le Quang Liem continued to play white but could not maintain the advantage and lost to the opponent's player.
The opportunity to win is no longer there for the Vietnamese player even though the 4th set has not been played. In the 4th set, after 68 matches, player Jaime Santos won.
In the end, Le Quang Liem lost 0.5-3.5 to Jaime Santos and accepted to be runner-up in this year's tournament.
In the regulations of the Leon Masters Rapid Chess Tournament, with rapid chess, each player has 20 minutes for the game plus 10 seconds after each move (20+10). In rapid chess, the time will be 5+3.
