China’s Wei Yi, 24, captured first prize last weekend in a competitive field at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, the annual Netherlands tournament known as the “chess Wimbledon” due to its consistent strength over many decades. Wijk, formerly Beverwijk, began in a small way in 1938 and still serves pea soup at its closing dinner in memory of its early hungry wartime years.
At age 13, Wei was already a grandmaster. At 15, he was, and still is, the youngest in chess history to achieve an elite GM 2700 rating. Then he plateaued around 2725, and stayed at that level for the best part of a decade. One reason was a five-year economics and management course at a leading Chinese university, from which he will graduate in July 2024. Another was Covid: he has competed outside China only twice since the pandemic.
Wei was on a 50% score at Wijk until a surge in the closing rounds and victory in the speed tie-breaks. He jumped to No 9 in the live ratings, and can expect more invitations to elite tournaments.
He used to be primarily a tactician in the mode of Mikhail Tal or Alireza Firouzja, but now has a more classical playing style in the tradition of Paul Keres and Boris Spassky. His final-round game showed how White can utilise an isolated central d4 pawn to shield the marshalling of an attacking army and then switch f to a direct attack on the black king. Key moments were 13 Rxe4! preparing 15 Rh4, 16 Bc4! targeting e6, the exchange sacrifice 22 Rh7+! and the final blow 36 Nxg6! (Qxg6 37 Bf5).
The Indians at Wijk missed out on first prize, but still had an excellent tournament. Dommaraju Gukesh allowed a draw by threefold repetition when winning in the penultimate round, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was rock solid, while Vidit Gujrathi was in contention until the end. Leon Mendonca, 17, won the Challengers so qualifies for the 2025 Masters.
The final round included a protest by NL Rebellion against Tata Steel’s use of coal: “the most harmful fossil fuel for the climate.” Barred from the playing hall, the demonstrators opted for noise, to which the organisers responded by issuing earplugs to the grandmasters.
In contrast to Wei’s career-high success, the world champion, Ding Liren, gave a mediocre performance, with many dull draws and several errors. If Ding drops out of the top 10, as could easily happen in the coming months, he would be the only world champion since 1886 to do so apart from Alexander Alekhine in 1945-46.
Ding’s next classical tournament will be at Stavanger in May, an elite six-player double rounder headed by Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Before that there is the Candidates at Toronto in April, where almost all the contenders will fancy their chances against Ding in a world title match.
Three days ago Carlsen, the world No 1, and the controversial US grandmaster Hans Niemann played together again at last, in a belated sequel to their 2022 Sinquefield Cup game which led to a chain of cheating allegations and lawsuits.
The occasion was Chess.com’s early Titled Tuesday, where hundreds of masters compete for a $1,000 first prize over 11 rounds of online blitz. Much was hoped for from the meeting, but it ended in a bizarre 87-move draw by repetition with only kings and seven pawns each left on the board.
Both players ended with more time than they started, thanks to the two seconds per move increment. Niemann went on to win the late Titled Tuesday on tie-break from Hikaru Nakamura, with Carlsen not competing.
This month the focus shifts to England, where the second annual Cambridge Open starts on 19 February with 119 players from 22 countries, among them eight GMs led by Michael Adams, plus a flock of ambitious teenagers.
3905: (Black moves first) 1 h1=R+! Qf1! 2 Rxh7! Qf8 mate is the only way.
