Le Quang Liem is the grandmaster who put Vietnamese chess on the world map — widely regarded as Vietnam’s greatest-ever player and, for years, the country’s clear No. 1. His signature achievement is enormous: in 2013 he became World Blitz Champion, making him the first Vietnamese person ever to win a world chess title. He’s also a two-time Aeroflot Open winner and the 2019 Asian Continental Champion, with a peak classical rating of 2741 (2024). As of July 2026 he’s still a firm member of the world’s elite — and, in a lovely second act, a successful college chess coach in the United States.
Quick facts
- Full name: Lê Quang Liêm · Born: 13 March 1991, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- Title: Grandmaster (earned in 2006)
- Peak rating: 2741 (2024) — peaked at world No. 14
- Biggest title: 2013 World Blitz Champion — Vietnam’s first-ever world chess champion
- Also won: Aeroflot Open (2010, 2011) · Asian Continental Champion (2019)
- Day job: head coach of the Webster University chess team (since 2021)
- Style: solid and deeply prepared in classical chess, lethal in speed chess
Who is Le Quang Liem?
Le Quang Liem was born in Ho Chi Minh City in 1991 and rose through the junior ranks as one of Asia’s brightest talents, earning the grandmaster title in 2006. Chess isn’t a mainstream sport in Vietnam, which makes what he did next remarkable: he climbed, more or less alone, from a country with little elite chess infrastructure all the way into the global top 15.
His breakthrough on the international stage came in 2010 and 2011, when he won the Aeroflot Open in Moscow back-to-back — one of the toughest open tournaments in the world, a proving ground packed with hungry grandmasters. Then came the defining moment: at the 2013 World Blitz Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, he outlasted a field of the planet’s best speed players to take gold, becoming the first Vietnamese athlete to be crowned a world champion in chess. He’s been Vietnam’s flag-bearer ever since.
What is Le Quang Liem’s playing style?
Le is a wonderfully well-rounded player. In classical chess he’s solid, deeply prepared, and hard to beat — the kind of opponent who rarely hands you anything and quietly punishes sloppiness. But turn up the clock and a different gear appears: he has a razor-sharp tactical eye and lightning-fast decision-making that make him one of the finest speed-chess players of his generation. That blend of rock-solid preparation and tactical speed is exactly what carried him to a world blitz crown.
We break it down with examples in Le Quang Liem’s playing style.
What openings does Le Quang Liem play?
Le’s repertoire is classical and battle-tested. As Black against 1.e4 he’s comfortable in the sharp, theory-heavy Sicilian Defense (especially the famous Najdorf), and he’ll also head into the ultra-solid Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense when he wants a rock. As White he favors 1.d4 and 1.c4 setups that steer into Queen’s Gambit and Catalan structures — sound, flexible positions where his preparation and technique do the talking.
See the full tour in Le Quang Liem’s openings.
Career highlights
- 2006: earns the grandmaster title.
- 2010: wins the Aeroflot Open in Moscow (7/9) — his first elite open title.
- 2011: wins the Aeroflot Open again — back-to-back victories in one of the world’s toughest opens.
- 2012: scores 8/10 on board 1 at the Chess Olympiad as Vietnam finishes 7th, its best-ever team result.
- 2013: becomes World Blitz Champion in Khanty-Mansiysk — Vietnam’s first world chess champion.
- 2019: wins the Asian Continental Championship in Xingtai, China — the first Vietnamese player to do so.
- 2021: becomes head coach of the Webster University chess team in the United States.
- 2024: reaches his peak classical rating of 2741 (world No. 14).
The best games
Le’s finest moments span a world blitz title run, two Aeroflot triumphs, and a continental crown — a highlight reel of a player who thrives when the pressure is highest. We tell those stories, in prose, in Le Quang Liem’s best games.
Fun facts
- He is the first Vietnamese person ever to win a world chess championship — a genuine national milestone.
- He didn’t just play college chess in the US, he coaches it: since 2021 he’s been head coach of Webster University’s powerhouse program, home of the SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) chess team.
- Before coaching, he was a student star at Webster, playing board one and helping the team win the President’s Cup — the US national college chess championship.
- He shares the Webster connection with fellow elite grandmaster Wesley So, who also passed through the program.
FAQ
Is Le Quang Liem the best Vietnamese chess player ever? By almost any measure, yes. He’s the highest-rated Vietnamese player in history, the country’s long-time No. 1, and its first-ever world champion (2013 World Blitz). He remains the benchmark every Vietnamese player is measured against.
What is Le Quang Liem best known for? Winning the 2013 World Blitz Championship — a title that made him the first Vietnamese athlete to be crowned world champion in chess.
What is Le Quang Liem’s highest rating? His peak classical FIDE rating is 2741, reached in 2024, when he climbed to world No. 14.
When did Le Quang Liem become a grandmaster? In 2006, as a teenager.
What does Le Quang Liem do now? He’s still an active elite grandmaster (world No. 18 as of July 2026) and, since 2021, the head coach of the Webster University chess team in the United States.
Keep exploring
Go deeper: his best games · his playing style · his opening repertoire · his rating history · facts & records · meet fellow Webster alum Wesley So, or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, his FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Current ranking stamped “as of July 2026” · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.