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/...