Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem.— Photo thethaovanhoa

HA NOI (VNS) — Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem will defend his title at the HD Bank International Chess Championships 2014 in HCM City, slated to be held on March 9-16.

The world blitz champion will be the highest-ranked player in the tournament. Besides Liem, other renowned players, such as Ni Hua and Lu Shanglei of China; Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Dao Thien Hai of Viet Nam; Zhang Zhong of Singapore and Shyam Sundar of India, will also participate in the event.

The 9-round (Swiss system style) championship will offer US$35,000 in prizes. Currently, 87 players from 16 countries have agreed to participate. Among them are 10 grandmasters.

This year's winner will win $12,000. The second and third prizes are worth $5,000 and $3,000 respectively. – VNS