Vietnamese chess Grandmaster Le Quang Liem failed to defend his title at the US Spice Cup Festival after tying with Wesley So of the Philippines in his final match yesterday.

Having gained 5.5 points after ten matches, two-time winner of the Aeroflot Open Liem shared second place with three-time champion of China Ding Liren, who also drew with Hungary's Csaba Balogh yesterday.

French Grandmaster GM Maxime Vachier-lagrave took the title with six points (two wins and eight draws).

Fourth place went to So with five points, while fifth position was occupied by both Meier and Balogh.

The event was organised by Webster University under the auspices of Susan Polgar's SPICE Programme.

Six players competed in the double round robin tournament, which was the highest-rated chess tournament of its kind in US history.