  The structural properties of liquid GeSe$_2$ are studied by using
first-principles molecular dynamics in conjuncton with the Becke, Lee, Yang and
Parr (BLYP) generalized gradient approximation for the exchange and correlation
energy. The results on partial pair correlation functions, coordination
numbers, bond angle distributions and partial structure factors are compared
with available experimental data and with previous first-principle molecular
dynamics results obtained within the Perdew and Wang (PW) generalized gradient
approximation for the exchange and correlation energy. We found that the BLYP
approach substantially improves upon the PW one in the case of the short-range
properties. In particular, the Ge$-$Ge pair correlation function takes a more
structured profile that includes a marked first peak due to homopolar bonds, a
first maximum exhibiting a clear shoulder and a deep minimum, all these
features being absent in the previous PW results. Overall, the amount of
tetrahedral order is significantly increased, in spite of a larger number of
Ge$-$Ge homopolar connections. Due to the smaller number of miscoordinations,
diffusion coefficients obtained by the present BLYP calculation are smaller by
at least one order of magnitude than in the PW case.
