Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem
Holding the white pawn, Liem decided to play a King's Indian defense for his opening move. In subsequent plays he took control of the game and beat his Chinese rival after 45 moves.

Meanwhile, Liem’s teammate, Nguyen Anh Khoi (Elo rating 2454), took advantage of holding the white pawn to defeat Patil Pratik of India (Elo rating 2280) after 33 moves.

Quang Liem will face off against Soumya Swaminathan of India (Elo rating 2361) while Anh Khoi will meet Gupta Abhijeet of India (Elo rating 2614) in the fourth match on August 11.

The event is a nine-round Swiss open restricted to players with a FIDE rating of 2100 and above. The winner will receive US$13,000. The time control is 90 minutes for the entire game plus a 30-second increment starting from move one.

This year, it has attracted nearly 50 chess players from around the world, including 5 grandmasters with Elo ratings exceeding 2700. 

The Abu Dhabi Masters will run until August 15.