Liem won his first round match over Andrey Zhigalko of Bulgaria on
Feb. 8 and will meet Chinese Xiu Deshun who beat Romain Edouard of
France next round.
Liem's strongest rivals include six
international super grandmasters and eight international grandmasters,
including Gata Kamsky of the US , Sergei Movsesian of Armnia, Dmitry
Jakovenko of Russia and Maxime Vachier Lagrave of France .
Competitors range from unrated to highly rated taking part in three
open tournaments, each of which is a nine-round Swiss event.
Liem is among 130 candidates in tournament A, the highest level,
competing for a bonus of 20,000 euros (29,300 USD) for the title winner
who also will be entitled to participate in a round-robin Super
Tournament in Dortmund in the second half of July.
There will also be prizes for the best performance among seniors, women
and juniors in all tournaments and a prize for the best result by an
unrated player in tournament C.
The festival will conclude on February 17.
Liem has recently announced that he will be competing for three foreign teams this year.
Liem is the world No 79 will represent Germany 's Bremen at the
German Clubs Cup, Evry Grand Roque at the French Chess League Top 16 and
Chinese Qingdao Yucai at China 's Chess League Division A in March,
April and June, respectively.
The HCM City-born master is first ever Vietnamese chess master to play for foreign clubs.
Liem will later take part in the World Chess Championships in Khanty
Mansiysk in Russia from August 20 to September 15 and the 26th
Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia in November.
Liem whose ELO rating of 2,664 is aiming to break into the top 40 with an ELO rating of over 2,700 in 2011./.
