In the opening game, Quang Liem lost to Grigoriy Oparin - a 28-year-old Russian-American player and also a student at the University of Missouri, a rival of Webster, where he is currently a coach.
In the second game, despite continuing to lead the black team, Quang Liem defeated former US champion Sam Shaneland with the Berlin Defense system. He impressed when he brought the king to fight in the middle, moving through the rows f8, g8, h7, g6 and then moving up to f5 to catch well and win in the end.
The most notable match is game 3 with world standard champion Gukesh Dommaraju. This is the first time Quang Liem has faced the 19-year-old Indian player since he became the "Flag King". Playing with complex developments, Gukesh took advantage of his deep calculation ability to gain a good advantage, then attacked fiercely and ended with beautiful water, forcing Quang Liem to accept defeat.
At the end of the first day of competition, Levon Aronian led with 6 absolute points, Fabiano Caruana ranked 2nd with 5 points. Gukesh and Wesley So are in 3rd place with 4 points. Quang Liem has 2 points, tied for 7th place with Oparin.
The second day of competition will take place from 0:10 on August 13 (Vietnam time). Quang Liem will meet Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Leinier Dominguez in turn.
The St Louis Grand Chess Tour is taking place in the US. This is the 4th stage in the 6- tournament system of the Grand Chess Tour 2025, competing in the rapid chess format and matching with a prize fund of 175,000 USD. Each player plays 9 quick chess games and 18 flash chess games in 5 days, with a unique scoring method for each genre.
