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.
