The chess games of Wei Yi

Wei Yi

Wei Yi
Number of games in database: 94
Years covered: 2009 to 2013
Last FIDE rating: 2530
Overall record: +36 -26 =32 (55.3%)*
* Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS

With the White pieces:

Sicilian (25)
    B90 B30 B78 B80 B42
Four Knights (9)
    C48 C49
Sicilian Najdorf (7)
    B90
Sicilian Scheveningen (4)
    B80 B85 B83

With the Black pieces:

Sicilian (19)
    B90 B23 B92 B72 B50
Sicilian Najdorf (9)
    B90 B92 B97
Nimzo Indian (7)
    E32 E24 E46 E56 E58
Queen's Pawn Game (4)
    A46 D02 A45
Queen's Gambit Declined (4)
    D38 D31

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NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
R Rapport vs Wei Yi, 2012 0-1

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FIDE player card for Wei Yi

WEI YI
(born Jun-02-1999) China

[what is this?]

FM (2010); IM (2012); GM (2013).

Born in Jiangzhou province, Wei Yi is the world's youngest GM displacing Suri Vaibhav, and at 13 years 8 months and 23 days, (1) is the fourth youngest GM ever after Sergey Karjakin, Parimarjan Negi and Magnus Carlsen, the latter of whom is his favorite player "because he is so strong!" (2). Also the only GM born after 1998 and the 2nd born after 1997, ie: currently the only GM in the world who is under 15 years old.

Wei gained his FM title by winning the World U12 Championship in 2010. He won his first two GM norms at the World Junior Championship (2012) and the Indonesia Open 2012.

Wei first appeared in FIDE dispatches when he contested the Chinese Championship Group B in 2007, aged 7 or 8, when he scored 5/11, which included, quite remarkably, a win against FM Chen Fan and a draw against GM Zhou Jianchao. Although he did better in the 2008 version of that event with 5.5/11, the only positive result against a master was a draw against IM-elect Wu Xibin. Also in 2008, Wei competed in the 2008 China Team Championships Group B, where he scored 5.5/9, that included a draw against 2364-rated Hong Jiarong. These contests provided Wei with his inaugural FIDE rating of 2138 at the age of 9. His next effort was to dominate the U11 division of the 5th World School Chess Championship Open, with a score of 8.5/9, 2 points clear of the field. In the 2009 edition of the Group B Chinese Championship, 10 year-old FM Wei scored 6/11, recording wins against IM Yang Kaiqi and IM Liu Qingnan, as well as another draw against a GM, namely Wu Wenjin; in addition he scored wins against 2351-rated Li Haoyu and then 2515-rated and current GM Xiu Deshun. Later in 2009, he scored 3.5/9 against a strong field in the XingQiu Open (2009), adding 20 ELO points to his resume. In October, he scored 5.5/9 at the 2nd Indonesia Open Chess Championship (2012) and earned his 2nd GM norm.

In 2010, he was outright winner of the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2010 - U12 with 7.5/9; his rating at this stage was 2240, and this win barely affected his rating, being offset by losses to Wang Hao, Wang Yue and Ni Hua in the Chinese Chess League Division A. He spent the latter part of 2010 in the A and B division of the Chinese League (playing for the Jiangsu club) before traveling to Halkidiki in Greece to win the U12 crown, scoring 9.5/11, a half point ahead of 2nd place getter Kayden W Troff and a point ahead of 3rd placed Jan-Krzysztof Duda. (3) Returning to China to continue in the Chinese League, he recorded a win against Chinese super-GM Ni Hua. In August 2011, he scored 7/11 in the China Chess Championship 2011 Group B Men, amassing 24 Elo for this event and in October, scored 5/9 (+3 =4 -2) in the 1st Qin Huangdao Open, adding another 23 Elo points to his rating. He scored his first IM norm, narrowly missing a GM norm, at the 2012 edition of the Aeroflot Open Division B when he scored 5.5/9 (+4 -2 =3) with a TPR of 2551 and adding 40 Elo rating points to his ratings resume. He scored his 2nd IM norm (a double norm) at the Asian Continental Chess Championship (2012), when he scored 4.5/9 against 6 GMs, 2 IMs and a WGM, adding a further 27 points to his rating. In November 2012, he participated in the 2013 Chinese National Team Selection Tournament, easily winning with 8.5/9 and adding another 15 points to his rating to bring it to over 2500 for the first time. He won his 3rd GM norm, and the provisional GM title, in round 9 of the Reykjavik Open (2013) at the age of 13 years 8 months and 23 days. His final placing at Reykjavik was =4th (6th on tiebreak), scoring 7.5/10 - a half point from the lead - and adding 25 points to his rating. He also received the prize for the best junior in the tournament. In his first outing as GM-elect, Wei Yi played in the 3rd HD Bank Cup (2013) in Ho Chi Minh City, and lead after round 5 with 4.5/5. However, after a heavy 6th round loss to Zhou Jianchao, he only managed 2 draws in the final three rounds, finishing with a minor rating boosting result from his result of 5.5/9 (placing =16th).

He took his first tilt at the World Championship cycle by competing in the 2011 Asian Zonal, where he scored 4.5/9, adding a further 20 ELO points to his rating. The 13 year old competed at the World Junior Championship (2012) and in his first attempt was in contention for first place, leading the field at one stage. By the penultimate round he stood fifth, a point behind the lead, but lost his last round game to place 11th, having scored 8.5/11 and recording a TPR of 2613. Had he won, he would have placed 3rd, a draw would have resulted in fifth place thanks to the fact that he had the highest tiebreak of the event (sum total of opponents' Elo ratings less the lowest rating). In August 2012, he competed in the Chinese Zonal competition and scored 7/10, a half point from the lead.

Wei Yi plays for the Jiangsu Taizhou Team in the Chinese Chess League, and in the 2012 competition he scored 10.5/17 with a TPR of 2550, helping his team to 3rd place in the nearly year long event.

Wei's standard rating as at 1 May 2013 is 2530, his highest rating so far, ranking him as the top U14 in the world by a considerable margin. Other ranking statistics relevant to the 13-year old are that he is ranked number 21 in China and number 31 Junior (U20) in the world. He is not rated in rapid, but has a blitz rating of 2558.

(1) Wei Yi's birthday was found at http://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtm...

(2) Interview at http://www.reykjavikopen.com/wei-yi...

(3) An image of these three players on the podium can be found here: http://www.chessbase.com/news/2010/...

Interview and article dated 7 March 2013 by Alina L'Ami: http://en.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/...

page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 94

Game	Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. Wei Yi vs Qun Ma	½-½	39	2009	XingQiu Open	B85 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Classical
2. Xiu Deshun vs Wei Yi	½-½	61	2009	XingQiu Open	D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
3. Wei Yi vs Lou Yiping	½-½	49	2009	XingQiu Open	C07 French, Tarrasch
4. K W Troff vs Wei Yi	0-1	40	2010	WYCC Open U12	E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3
5. Ding Liren vs Wei Yi	1-0	38	2010	6th TCh-CHN	D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
6. M Abramciuc vs Wei Yi	0-1	54	2010	WYCC Open U12	B23 Sicilian, Closed
7. Motylev vs Wei Yi	1-0	43	2010	TCh-CHN	B53 Sicilian
8. Joshua Colas vs Wei Yi	0-1	58	2010	WYCC Open U12	D31 Queen's Gambit Declined
9. Wei Yi vs Ni Hua	1-0	30	2010	TCh-CHN	C48 Four Knights
10. Wei Yi vs Yi Xu	½-½	39	2010	WYCC Open U12	B31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation
11. Liang Jinrong vs Wei Yi	1-0	39	2010	TCh-CHN	B54 Sicilian
12. Wei Yi vs V Tatekhin	½-½	44	2010	WYCC Open U12	B83 Sicilian
13. Wei Yi vs Zeng Chongsheng	½-½	34	2010	TCh-CHN	B42 Sicilian, Kan
14. Johnatan Bakalchuk vs Wei Yi	0-1	55	2010	WYCC Open U12	B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
15. Wei Yi vs Ghosh Diptayan	1-0	45	2010	WYCC Open U12	C49 Four Knights
16. Ni Hua vs Wei Yi	1-0	37	2010	TCh-CHN	B90 Sicilian, Najdorf
17. J Duda vs Wei Yi	½-½	71	2010	WYCC Open U12	B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
18. Wei Yi vs Wang Hao	0-1	29	2010	TCh-CHN	B72 Sicilian, Dragon
19. Wan Yunguo vs Wei Yi	1-0	33	2010	TCh-CHN	B90 Sicilian, Najdorf
20. Wei Yi vs Orri Striechman	1-0	32	2010	WYCC Open U12	C49 Four Knights
21. Wei Yi vs M Petrosyan	1-0	34	2010	WYCC Open U12	B80 Sicilian, Scheveningen
22. Wang Yue vs Wei Yi	1-0	27	2010	TCh-CHN	D02 Queen's Pawn Game
23. Wei Yi vs M Karthikeyan	1-0	69	2010	WYCC Open U12	B45 Sicilian, Taimanov
24. Wei Yi vs Zhao Jun	0-1	63	2010	6th TCh-CHN	B33 Sicilian
25. Xiu Deshun vs Wei Yi	½-½	58	2010	TCh-CHN	B23 Sicilian, Closed


page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 94

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Wei Yi wins | Wei Yi loses

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 3 OF 3 · Later Kibitzing>
Feb-26-13		Kinghunt: I am expecting great things from Wei Yi in the future. Am I mistaken, but is this arguably the greatest ever performance by a 13 year old (at least so far)?

Feb-26-13		dx9293: Wei Yi's prospects are very exciting, but calm down guys :) Remember that Karjakin earned his "Youngest GM" record way back in August 2002 which, chess-wise, was a completely different world than we have today. He was rated 2523 Elo then, at 12 years 7 months, again, back in 2002! Bu Xiangzhi became the first 13 year old GM (breaking Ponomariov's 1997 record)...back in 1999! Bu raised his game to GM level in a time before software programs were really strong. Also, he was the first in the new wave of young Chinese GMs. In July 1990, a 16-year old FIDE Master named Gata Kamsky achieved a rating of 2650 and was ranked 8th in the World behind Kasparov, Karpov, Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Timman, Ehlvest, and Salov. I wish Wei Yi all the best, but he has a long way to go...

Feb-26-13		alexmagnus: <In July 1990, a 16-year old FIDE Master named Gata Kamsky achieved a rating of 2650 and was ranked 8th in the World> Which was to attribute less to Kamsky's strength back then than to extreme length of rating periods coupled with extreme activity.

Feb-26-13		TITIKIZA: Great talent. This kid going places.

Feb-26-13		TITIKIZA: Wei Yi has become the youngest GM in the world 26.02.2013� After seven rounds he was in the follow-up group with 5.5 points, and in round eight he faced former child prodigy Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, now 22 and rated 2715. The French GM played an attacking game, but faced an ice-cold defence and some nice tactics by the Chinese IM, who won and secured his final GM norm � at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days

Feb-26-13		alexmagnus: That makes him the fourth-youngest GM in history (behind Karjakin, Negi and Carlsen but ahead of Bu).

Feb-26-13		Maatalkko: Keep in mind that this was Wei's first major adult tournament in Europe. His results here weren't unprecedented, as he beat 5 2600+ GMs in Asian tournaments during 2012. His performance rating through 9 rounds of Reykjavik is 2661, with a +2 -1 =1 score against 2600+ GMs. Thus, Wei is not merely a Grandmaster (2500+); he shows signs of being at the level of a strong Grandmaster (2600+) soon, if he isn't already. Whether this is true or not will be confirmed by future tournaments. Wei has added 22 points so far, bringing his live Elo to 2523. Wei's next milestone is 2600, and the current record is held by Wesley So at 14 years, 11 months, and 22 days old. Assuming that <TITIKIZA>'s information is correct, this gives Wei just under 15 months to set a new record. I think Wei is very likely to break this record given that he plays enough international tournaments. Consider that Wei gained 170 points in 2012 and seems to have improved a lot compared to a year ago. For example, here are his major international tournament performances: July 2010 Asian Youth Champ: 2138 August 2010 Chinese Leage Div B: 2093 October 2010 World U12 Champ: 2355 March 2011 Asian Zonal: 2369 April 2011 Chinese League Div. A: 2397 Aug 2011 China Champ. Group B: 2447 Oct 2011 Quinhuangdao Open: 2441 February 2012 Aeroflot: 2559 May 2012 Asian Continental: 2530 August 2012 World Junior Ch: 2626 September 2012 China Zonal: 2460 October 2012 Indonesia Open: 2608 February 2013 Reykjavik: 2661 It's a pretty clear trend line. Wei's personal benchmark for a "good tournament" seems to increase by about a hundred points every year. This rate will inevitably slow, as each hundred points gets tougher than the last, but as of now it seems that Wei Yi's growth is very strong and reaching 2600 within 15 months is well within reach.

Feb-26-13		twinlark: <Maatalko> <Assuming that <TITIKIZA>'s information is correct> Assuming you're talking about Wei Yi's birthday, it finally turned up at FIDE's database quite recently, which would be the source <TITKIZA> relied upon unless he took it from the bio or from chessbase, both of which would have relied on FIDE's information (the bio certainly did). It's so far been unavailable elsewhere on the internet, and trust me, I tried to find it many times in the last year or so to fix up his bio as this player had been the odds on favourite for some time to be the next player to win the GM title before he was 15, or 14 as it turned out. Not bad when you consider there are no other GMs under 16 in the world, although there are a couple of 15 year olds with 3 GM norms, but not the 2500 rating.

Feb-26-13		Eyal: A short interview with this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af5A...

Feb-26-13		ketchuplover: Welcome to GMville young man :)

Feb-27-13		twinlark: <which would be the source <TITKIZA> relied upon> Typo. I meant <TITIKIZA>.

Feb-27-13		BUNA: < alexmagnus: <In July 1990, a 16-year old FIDE Master named Gata Kamsky achieved a rating of 2650 and was ranked 8th in the World> Which was to attribute less to Kamsky's strength back then than to extreme length of rating periods coupled with extreme activity.> Rating lists came out every six month back then. Until 2010 they came out every 3 month. Kamsky played 102 games between July 1989 and July 1990. I wouldn't call that "extreme activity". But (!) within this one year Kamsky achieved 305 rating points. He rose from 2345 to 2650 (number 8). A truly meteoric rise!

Feb-27-13		twinlark: Yes. The actual numerical rating is less important than the ranking.

Feb-27-13		alexmagnus: <BUNA> Only to fall to 2595 (and #39) a year later.

Feb-27-13		Maatalkko: http://www.reykjavikopen.com/info/p... Wei Yi placed 6th and was Best Junior for a total prize of 650 euro. That's big money when you're 13 years old. I hope his parents will let him spend it.

Feb-27-13		csmath: The kid is aggressive, plays tactical very well but needs brushing up on positional principles. I am guessing his IQ is not a problem. Now he needs a serious coach that can guide him on game strategy. Remarkable achievement for his age but it is no garantee. Negi fizzled, Nepo is not as good as early suggested. Therefore a serious patron with money is needed here and a serious coach. Somebody like Kasim or Belyavski if not Kasparov himself.

Feb-27-13		csmath: Note how Caruana did it, he started with Pandolfini, and then with Chernin, and Ribli, and Belyavski. All serious and dedicated chess trainers, Fabiano was moved around to have the access to these people. Look now, Caruana is the brightest young star after Magnus. That is the way.

Mar-02-13		dumbgai: In the interview Wei Yi said he trains in Beijing, so he probably has the same trainers as all the other Chinese players. They have some pretty good training over in China, with all the players they've produced recently.

Mar-02-13		Maatalkko: <dumbgai> Yeah, no need to move. Whatever they have been doing to train Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi has been working so far, and they have already produced a durable top #20 player in Wang Hao. Wei is poised to climb the same ladder in less time.

Mar-02-13		joeyj: <Wei Yi The World�s Youngest Grandmaster at 13yrs-8mos-24days> The latest 13 years of age, to qualify the GM status was China�s Wei Yi, born 2 June 1999, when in the 9th round of a 10 rounder Reykjavik Open on 26 February 2013 he scored 7.0/9 and registered a Rating performance of 2661 that was more than enough to achieve his 3rd and final GM norm. Since he also had passed the 2500 rating barrier (one of the requirement for a GM title) with his 2501 rating since January 2013, he finally had completed all the requirements for a GM title. With this feat International Master Wei Yi now becomes the 4th Youngest Grandmaster of all time at age 13 yrs-8mos-24 days and also currently the world�s youngest grandmaster. To far, there are only 6-GMs that achieved GM status at age 13-years-old and under with Serjey Karjakin at age 12yrs & 7months as the youngest, Parimarjan Negi (2nd Youngest), Magnus Carlsen (3rd youngest), Wei Yi (4th), Bu Xiangzhi(5th) & Richard Rapport (6th). <Read more:> http://chessaccount.wordpress.com/

Mar-05-13		joeyj: <World�s Youngest To Attain Chess Grandmaster Status> http://chessaccount.wordpress.com/c...

Apr-21-13		waustad: He's a contender for the Chinese championship this year!

May-19-13		norami: It seems like the era of the record-breaking child prodigy is over. For years they got better and better at younger and younger ages until Karjakin and Carlsen came along and set records that haven't been challenged. Wei is the best young player but he's well behind those other two at the same age. It reminds me of the situation in women's tennis in the 90's. It got to the point where 15 and 16 year old girls were routinely challenging to win major championships, but they began to discourage that sort of thing, especially after the Capriati burnout.

May-19-13		Shams: <norami> <Wei is the best young player but he's well behind those other two at the same age.> He's only 20 points and 50 points behind Carlsen and Karjakin respectively when they were his age. I don't think that's too significant.

May-19-13		twinlark: He's few points behind Negi as well, but it's not hard to visualise he may turn out better. It's interesting to see which of the younger prodigies shot to the top and which didn't. Of the 13 year olds, Karjakin and Carlsen have come good (ie: top 10 good), whereas Bu Xiangzhi and Negi generally reside around the 100 mark. Rapport seems to be coming good, although he's well down on the high flyers. Carlsen is the only prodigy younger than Fischer to have made it to number 1 since Fischer, while of the 35 players that have become GMs at an age younger than Fischer, a quarter of them including Carlsen, Karjakin, Radjabov, Caruana, Bacrot, Ponomariov, Leko, Polgar, and Nakamura have made the top 10 so far. Of the whole group of 35, only Fischer (and Ponomariov) have become world champions and Peter Leko is the only one to have been a challenger in a WC match. Historically, only Morphy and Capablanca of the young prodigies made it to the top AFAIK.

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