Liem misses chance to win Aeroflot champion title in Russia

Vietnamese young chess star Le Quang Liem has failed to defend his champion title at the 2012 Open Aeroflot in Russia after his latest defeat on February 12.

Liem, whose Elo rating is 2,714, took black and lost to US rival Robson Ray (Elo 2,596) after 41 moves. This is his second consecutive failure after being beaten by Russian player Alexander Khalifman (Elo 2,632).

Earlier, he drew with Indian rival Parimarjan Negi (Elo 2,641), and Eduardo Iturrizaga (Elo 2,649) of Venezuela, but claimed one victory over his host Boris Savechenko.

With 2.5 points, Liem has dropped to 60^th position. Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov is currently leading the tournament with 5 points.