Le Quang Liem competed in chess at the 2026 World Esports Cup being held in France.
However, the Vietnamese chess grandmaster stopped after 2 early confrontations, against direct opponents.
According to the chess competition format at the 2026 World Esports Cup - Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026, there are 8 chess players participating in the qualifying round to compete for 2 official spots in the final round.
The 2 players of each match will compete in 2 sets going back and forth. Each set lasts 10 minutes. If after 2 sets, the score is a draw, both continue to play the Armageddon set to win the overall result.
Players will compete from the first round to the final match to compete for a ticket to the final round. The final round has 16 players.
For losing chess players, they still have a chance to play in the losing bracket. The champion in the losing bracket has a spot in the chess finals at the World Cup (EWC) 2026.
In the first round of qualifying, Le Quang Liem faced Olexandr Bortnyk (Ukraine) but lost 0.5-1.5 after 2 matches.
Vietnamese grandmaster falls into the losing bracket and continues to compete.
In the losing bracket, Le Quang Liem met player Andrey Esipenko (Russia) in the first round.
The Vietnamese player won in the first match but lost the second leg to Andrey Esipenko. Due to the draw between the two sides, Le Quang Liem and Andrey Esipenko continued to play the Armageddon game to decide the final result.
The Vietnamese grandmaster lost in the Armageddon match. Therefore, Le Quang Liem also officially stopped at the 2026 World Esports Cup.
This is the first time chess has been included in the World Esports Cup competition program.
Chess competition takes place from August 11 to August 15 (local time in France).
