Liem Le Wins 2025 Leon Masters; Oro Impresses Against Anand

Vietnamese GM Liem Le has won the 2025 Leon Masters after denying Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand an 11th title by winning their final match 3-1. Le beat local hero GM Jaime Santos in the Semifinals, while Anand defeated 11-year-old Argentinian IM Faustino Oro, though only after the young star gave more evidence of his enormous potential. 

This was the 38th edition of the tournament in Leon, Spain, that has been won by stars including World Champions Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Magnus Carlsen, and, of course, Anand, who won the title in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2016, and 2024.

Once again, the format was a four-player knockout, with each match played over four 20+10 rapid games followed, if needed, by 3+2 blitz.    

2025 Leon Masters Bracket

The first clash was the most anticipated of the whole tournament.

Viswanathan Anand 3.5-2.5 Faustino Oro

On the same day Anand won the event in 2024, 10-year-old Oro became the the youngest international master in chess history. At the post-match press conference, Anand joked that although he hadn’t been in time to play the kid, he had been in time for Oro to get his autograph.  

Vishy Anand on Faustino Oro: “John Nunn always used to say that you have to beat the young before they get very strong. Instead I can say I’ve given him an autograph before he got very strong! Another achievement.” 😀 pic.twitter.com/eqpycCoCcm

— chess24 (@chess24com) June 30, 2024

Fast-forward a year and the paths of the two chess geniuses had crossed at the board. Only a month ago, Anand won an exhibition match in Italy 2-0, but in Leon things would be much tougher for the 55-year-old, who noted that for the first time he was facing a player five times younger!

Already in the first rapid game it was Oro who had any advantage at the end. Then game two was when Oro came closest to pulling off a sensation. He spotted a fine knight sacrifice and, despite getting down to 47 seconds to his opponent’s more than eight minutes, managed to maintain a winning edge all the way until playing 49.Ra1? (49.Ke2!).

Anand was suddenly able to force a draw by repetition with 49…Nf4! and the game was soon over. You can see the 11-year-old’s disappointment in the live video of the match.

Oro had come close to playing a masterpiece.

That was the resistance Oro would talk about after the games:

I think I played very well in some games and I could claim victory, but OK, Vishy puts up a lot of resistance, maybe the difference with a top grandmaster… It was a pleasure to play Vishy, and I wish him good luck! 

Oro wasn’t broken by that game and was again the player applying pressure in the remaining two rapid games. 38.c5!, right at the end of the last, would have kept the game going, gaining a passed pawn and denying the black knight the c5-square. 

Oro’s 38.g4 was the next best move, but two moves later a draw was agreed in a completely locked position. That meant the match would be decided in two 3+2 blitz games.

This was where Anand for the first time in the match was the one pressing, and Oro cracked, just as he seemed to have survived the worst. 36.Bc5? overlooked a trick that meant Anand picked up two pawns and the game.

That meant Oro had to hit back in the next game to force armageddon, which looked incredibly unlikely when with 18.Nd5! and 19.b4! Anand gained a winning advantage in a game he only needed to draw. 

Oro dug deep, however, and remarkably did get a winning opportunity overlooked by both players.

Anand had made it through to the final for a second year in a row, while Oro would be recruited as a fantastic commentator for the remaining matches. 

Jaime Santos 2-4 Liem Le

If Santos had won this match, we would have had a Anand-Santos final for a second year in a row, and that outcome couldn’t be ruled out during the longer games. “The first four rapid games were kind of solid from both sides,” as Le put it, was almost an understatement, with neither player having a significant advantage at any moment.

The blitz was very different, however, with Santos getting into trouble in the first game and needing to play the spectacular 22.Nd6+!! to stay afloat. Instead he chose 22.Nd2? and Le was winning.

The game had a shock finish, however. Just at the finishing line Le blundered away all his advantage, but in executing the saving move, Santos lost on time. The watching Oro was shocked as it seemed Santos had resigned in an equal position, with what really happened only becoming clear after the match was over.

Santos had to win on demand in the second game, but he was given no chance by Le and instead dropped a piece and had to concede the match. Le was through to the final on his first ever visit to Leon.

Viswanathan Anand 1-3 Liem Le

The first game of the final was a solid draw, before everything seemed to be decided by the second. Oro had been demonstrating an idea in some lines of playing Qd4 and trapping the black queen, and then suddenly Anand’s 24…e4? allowed it!  

“I considered Ne7, I considered f5, I considered e4, then I don’t why I played it!” was all Anand could say afterward.  

Anand found a way to fight on, and at some point came within touching distance of survival, but ultimately it was in vain. 

That was a tough blow, and one Anand admitted he failed to recover from. Game three wasn’t yet a must-win, but it was the last chance with the white pieces. There was no advantage from the opening, however, and 22.Nf5?! handed the advantage to Le, with Anand commenting:

I was just so irritated, I was making moves, I was not even looking at the board. After Nf5 White is probably lost already. I had stopped thinking, and when I thought again it was too late!

I had stopped thinking, and when I thought again it was too late!

—Viswanathan Anand

Le methodically built an advantage then won remarkably quickly. 

Le had an insurmountable lead and could be declared the “campeón.” 

A curiosity of the rules, however, was that the fourth game still had to be played. The players dealt with that hurdle by playing out a 22-move Exchange Slav draw. 

“I took my chances!” said Le, who also admitted he’d got a little lucky at times to get those chances. The first time winner took the opportunity to pay tribute to the 10-time champion:

I wanted to say thank you to Vishy, because first of all he’s a legend, and as you said, he won this tournament 10 times and countless other tournaments, and growing up I really looked up to him when I started my career. I think I learned a lot from his games, so it was really a pleasure and an honor to play him here today!

Meanwhile Oro has a career in chess commentary, if he wants it, but it’s more likely he plans to win some titles himself!

The 2025 Leon Masters was a four-player knockout that took place in Leon, Spain on July 4-6, featuring GMs Viswanathan Anand, Liem Le, and Jaime Santos, and IM Faustino Oro. Each match consisted of four 20+10 rapid games. If the scores were tied, the players competed in 3+2 blitz games. 

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