Wei Yi Impresses In Danzhou, Now 'Live' World #15
Wei Yi is not only leading the Danzhou Super GM Tournament with 4/5. The 18-year-old is showing impressive play, and after today's splendid win vs Yu Yangyi he climbed to number 15 in the live rankings.
Wei Yi started very well in Danzhou. | Photo: Qipai.
Besides the FIDE Grand Prix, another strong tournament is currently underway: the annual top tournament in Danzhou, Hainan, China.
Now held for the eighth time, the event has the following participants.
2017 Danzhou Super GM | Participants
| # | Fed | Name | Rating | Rank | Born |
| 1 | Ding Liren | 2781 | 10 | 1992 | |
| 2 | Yu Yangyi | 2753 | 14 | 1994 | |
| 8 | Wei Yi | 2738 | 20 | 1999 | |
| 3 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 2729 | 27 | 1969 | |
| 4 | Le, Quang Liem | 2726 | 30 | 1991 | |
| 5 | Malakhov, Vladimir | 2722 | 33 | 1980 | |
| 6 | Naiditsch, Arkadij | 2712 | 38 | 1985 | |
| 7 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2699 | 48 | 1983 | |
| 9 | Wang, Hao | 2698 | 50 | 1989 | |
| 10 | Lu Shanglei | 2638 | 136 | 1995 |
So far, Wei Yi is stealing the show in China. After five rounds the Chinese prodigy is leading the tournament with 4/5, half a point more than Ding Liren. But it's also his games that make a big impression.
After beating Lu Shanglei in the first round, and holding Vassily Ivanchuk to a draw, here's how he won against Ruslan Ponomariov in round three. The pawn sacrifice on g4 was objectively speaking not fully correct perhaps, but very hard to meet over the board.
Ponomariov was actually doing quite well in his game with Wei Yi. | Photo: Qipai.
Round four saw the clash with top seed Ding Liren. Despite being a pawn up, Wei Yi was actually the one defending in this rook ending. Eventually the players reached a pawn endgame that was drawn.
Wei Yi during the first round. | Photo: Qipai.
Today Wei Yi played his best game so far, against second seed Yu Yangyi. Also here he wasn't worried about sacrificing a pawn in the opening, as long as it kept the opponent under pressure.
Yu Yangyi initially defended well against White's activity, but then missed a nasty trick. In the second half of the game Wei Yi shows computer-like accuracy while making progress slowly.
After today, Wei Yi won 13.8 points, crossed 2750 and can be found in 15th place in the live ratings. Is he finally breaking through through the absolute world elite? | Photo: Qipai.
Wei Yi. pic.twitter.com/LJOoU1MEBs
— portisdos (@portisdos) July 13, 2017
So far 18 out of 25 games have ended in draws. Still, generally speaking the tournament doesn't lack fighting spirit.
There are strong anti-draw rules in effect: not only are the players not allowed to offer a draw, like with the Sofia Rule, but if they draw their game by a move repetition within 15 moves, they have to start over. Furthermore, if they would draw again under 15 moves, both players lose.
2017 Danzhou Super GM | Round 5 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Wei Yi | 2738 | 2960 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.0/5 | |||||||
| 2 | Ding Liren | 2781 | 2846 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.5/5 | |||||||
| 3 | Le, Quang Liem | 2726 | 2803 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3.0/5 | |||||||
| 4 | Wang Hao | 2698 | 2739 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2.5/5 | 6.50 | ||||||
| 5 | Ivanchuk,Vassily | 2729 | 2714 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2.5/5 | 6.25 | ||||||
| 6 | Naiditsch,Arkadij | 2712 | 2725 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2.5/5 | 6.25 | ||||||
| 7 | Yu Yangyi | 2753 | 2703 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.5/5 | 5.00 | ||||||
| 8 | Malakhov,Vladimir | 2722 | 2631 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2.0/5 | |||||||
| 9 | Ponomariov,Ruslan | 2699 | 2576 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5/5 | |||||||
| 10 | Lu Shanglei | 2638 | 2498 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1.0/5 |
Hmmm. China currently has as many top 20 players as Russia (4). That is presumably a first.
— Jonathan Tisdall (@GMjtis) July 13, 2017
Games from TWIC.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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