Wei Yi

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Wei.
Wei Yi

Wei Yi, Athens 2012
Country  China
Born (1999-06-02) 2 June 1999
Yancheng, Jiangsu, China[1]
Title Grandmaster
FIDE rating 2721 (January 2016)
Peak rating 2737 (November 2015)

Wei Yi (Chinese: 韦奕; pinyin: Wéi Yì; born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and chess prodigy.

Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the fourth youngest in history.[2][3] He is the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2600,[4] and also the youngest to reach 2700.[5]

Wei represents the Jiangsu club in the China Chess League.[6]

Career

Early years

In 2007, he competed in the Chinese Chess Championship B group at the age of 8, recording a draw against Grandmaster Zhou Jianchao.[4]

In 2010, he won the under-12 event at the Asian Youth Chess Championship[7] and followed this up by winning the same division at the World Youth Chess Championship.[8]

2012

In August, he won his first GM norm at the World Junior Chess Championship in Athens, including a victory over Richárd Rapport and a draw with the eventual winner Alexander Ipatov;[9] the competition is open to participants under-20 at 1 January, when Wei was only 12.

In October, he gained his second GM norm at the Indonesian Open Chess Championship, with victories over Michal Krasenkow and Sergey Fedorchuk.[10]

2013

In February, he secured his final norm at the Reykjavik Open with a score of 7½/10, including a victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, finishing 6th.[11]

In August, he made his debut at the FIDE World Cup, held that year in Tromsø, being one of the FIDE president's nominees. He defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in the first round and Alexei Shirov in the second, then was knocked out by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the third round.[12]

On the November FIDE rating list, Wei, aged 14 years, four months and 30 days, reached a rating of 2604, thus becoming the youngest player in history to achieve a rating of 2600+, breaking the record held by Wesley So.[4]

2014

In June, Wei won the 27th Magistral de León rapid tournament by defeating Francisco Vallejo Pons in the final.[13]

In August, he played on the reserve board for China in the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø. He scored 4/5, helping the Chinese team to win the gold medal.[14][15]

In October he finished second in the World Junior Championship in Pune, India behind Lu Shanglei.[16]

2015

In January, he won the Challenger Group at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament with a score of 10½/13 (+8-0=5) and a rating performance of 2804, ahead of David Navara and without any defeat.[17] By doing so, he qualified for the Masters section in 2016.[18]

In February, he competed in the Gibraltar Masters tournament and finished in a share of 3rd–11th.[19] This boosted Wei's rating to 2706 in the March rating list, making Wei Yi the youngest player ever to cross the 2700 mark.[5] The record had previously been held by Magnus Carlsen.

In April, Wei took part in the World Team Chess Championship, which was won by the Chinese team.[20] Wei scored 7/9 (+5=4-0) and won the gold medal on board 4.[21]

In May, Wei won the Chinese Championship, beating Ding Liren, Wang Hao and Yu Yangyi to the title and in the process becoming the youngest Chinese chess champion ever.[22]

In June, he won his second consecutive Magistral de León rapid tournament, defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final.[23]

At the Chess World Cup 2015 Wei sequentially knocked out Saleh Salem, Yuri Vovk, Alexander Areshchenko, and compatriot Ding Liren to progress to the quarterfinals, becoming the youngest player in the Chess World Cup history to accomplish this. Then he lost to Peter Svidler in the second set of rapid tiebreakers (10'+10") and therefore was eliminated from the competition.

In the inaugural edition of the China Chess King Match, held in Taizhou, Zhejiang[24] and featuring most of the top Chinese players, Wei Yi sequentially knocked out Zhao Jun, Yu Yangyi and Bu Xiangzhi to win the event. The format of this event was identical to that of the Chess World Cup.[25]

Notable games

References

  1. ↑ "Yancheng player wins championship at Corus Chess Tournament". Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  2. ↑ "Wei Yi has become the youngest GM in the world". ChessBase. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  3. ↑ "Certificate of Title Result (Reykjavik 2013)" (PDF). FIDE. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
  4. 1 2 3 "Wei Yi: youngest 2600+ GM ever". ChessBase. 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  5. 1 2 "March 2015 ratings: After 26 years, Yifan no.1". ChessBase. 2015-02-28. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  6. ↑ Chinese Chess League: Wei Yi OlimpBase
  7. ↑ "Asian Youth Chess Championship 2010 U12". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  8. ↑ "World Youth Chess Championship 2010 Open Under 12". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  9. ↑ "Certificate of Title Result (Athens 2012)" (PDF). FIDE. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
  10. ↑ "Certificate of Title Result (Indonesia 2012)" (PDF). FIDE. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
  11. ↑ "Wei Yi at Reykjavik Open 2013". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2015-05-03.
  12. ↑ "Chess World Cup 2013: Pairings & Results". Retrieved 2013-08-19.
  13. ↑ "Leon Final: Wei Yi wins on tiebreaks". ChessBase. 2014-06-10. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "Olympiad 2014 Open: Chinese team composition with round-results". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  15. ↑ "Olympiad 2014 Open: final ranking after 11 rounds". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  16. ↑ "World Junior Chess Championship 2014: final standing". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  17. ↑ "Standings of Tata Steel Challengers". Tata Steel Chess. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  18. ↑ "Tata Steel Chess news". Tata Steel Chess. 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  19. ↑ "2015 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival - Masters". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  20. ↑ "World Team Championship 2015". Chess-Results. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  21. ↑ "China wins the World Team Championship". chess24. 2015-04-30. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  22. ↑ "Wei Yi youngest Chinese Champion". ChessBase. 2015-05-30. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  23. ↑ "Wei Yi repeats in Leon". ChessBase. 2015-06-15. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  24. ↑ The First China Chess King Match. Tournament details FIDE. Retrieved 10 December 2015
  25. ↑ Fischer, Johannes (2015-12-01). "Wei Yi wins brilliancy". ChessBase. Retrieved 10 December 2015.

External links

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