Teen wins Chinese Chess Championship

China’s rise in the world of chess has been meteoric ever since the nation came to prominence with its playing strengths at the turn of the millennium. The country has not as yet produced a world champion, but with its stardom in the game, it is only a matter of time. During the 1980s, and well into the nineties, the game of chess was not as popular as it is today and China was not a playing power. Today, however, China is a powerhouse.

The Chinese Chess Championship is currently regarded as one of the most rigorous in the world and could be accurately compared to the Russian, Indian, English, French, Ukrainian, Hungarian and US Championships.

So when 16-year-old Grandmaster Wei Yi won the Championship, it said that something positive is happening in chess within China. During the Championship, Wei played a pretty combination in the much acclaimed Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez to overcome Ding Liren, a grandmaster of note.

Of consequence also is Chinese-American Jeffery Xiong, 14, who resides in Texas and who won the Chicago Open which attracted the some of the heavyweight grandmasters of the Western Hemisphere. Lazaro Bruzon Baptista rated 2684 from Cuba was the top seed. Gata Kamsky, a former US champion, other US grandmasters and grandmasters from Israel and Belarus were also there. Xiong beat or drew with them all and walked away with the bulging prize money which was increased from last year. Xiong is being coached by Hungarian grandmaster Alexander Chernin who is the head coach of the Young Chess Stars Programme which oversees talented chess-playing children.

At 16 years old, Wei Yi (in photo) became the youngest chess champion of China when he emerged victorious in the Chinese Chess Championship in Xinghua recently. It is now apparent that youngsters are excelling in the rich ancient game beginning with Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, who won the world championship title when he was 22, two years ago. Following his victory, Yi was catapulted to No 30 in the rankings by the World Chess Federation. Some chess analysts are of the view that Yi could be a likely challenger in due course for Carlsen.

He works a couple of hours per week on chess to improve his effectiveness in the game. Incidentally, at one time during the 1980s, Guyana had a resident chess coach from Cuba who improved our playing strengths. At the recent Umada Cup, I met the coach, Jose Vilela, who accompanied the Surinamese team. Vilela now coaches Suriname’s chess team which did very well at the tournament.

Chess games
The following games were played at the 2015 French Team Championship in Montpellier, France. The Championship is

Jeffery Xiong, 14, startled a number of strong grandmasters when he won the rigorous Chicago Open chess tournament recently. With his victory, Xiong (in photo) qualified as a certified chess grandmaster, one of the youngest worldwide. In the latest FIDE rating list, Xiong is placed at 2522. His biggest challenge at present would be to qualify for the prestigious 2016 US Chess Championship.

ongoing and ends on Tuesday.

White Michal Krasenkow
Black Bart Michiels

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 b6 7. b3 Bb7 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Bb2 h6 11. Rad1 Qc7 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Rad8 15. Rfe1 Nf6 16. Bd3 Bb4 17. Re2 Be7 18. Qc1 c5 19. d5 exd5 20. Rde1 Ne4 21. cxd5 f5 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Rxe4 Bf6 24. Bxf6 Rxf6 25. Re7 Rd7 26. Qc4 Qd6 27. Rxd7 Qxd7 28. d6+ Kf8 29. Re7 b5 30. Qc2 Qg4 31. h3 1-0.

White Anish Giri
Black Viorel Iordachescu

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c4 d6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. h3 c6 7. Be3 Na6 8. Be2 e5 9. d5 Bd7 10. Nd2 Rc8 11. g4 cxd5 12. cxd5 Nc5 13. a3 a5 14. a4 Ne8 15. g5 f5 16. h4 Rf7 17. Nb3 Na6 18. Bb5 Nb4 19. f3 Bf8 20. Kd2 Ng7 21. Qg1 Nh5 22. Bb6 Qe8 23. Bxa5 Nc6 24. dxc6 bxc6 25. Bc4 d5 26. exd5 cxd5 27. Bxd5 Be6 28. Bxe6 Qxe6 29. Qb6 Qc4 30. Qb5 Qf4+ 31. Kc2 Ng3 32. Rhd1 Qxf3 33. Qxe5 Ne4 34. Qe6 Qg2+ 35. Kb1 Rc6 36. Qe5 Rc4 37. Qd5 Rc8 38. Nxe4 fxe4 39. Ka2 Bg7 40. Rd2 Qf3 41. Re1 1-0.

White Wesley So
Black Jan-Krzysztof Duda
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. Qc2 Qc7 16. b3 g6 17. Bb2 Nh5 18. Bf1 Rac8 19. g3 Ng7 20. Rad1 Ne6 21. h4 Bg7 22. axb5 axb5 23. b4 d5 24. h5 exd4 25. cxd4 Nb6 26. hxg6 hxg6 27. e5 Qe7 28. Bc3 Ra8 29. Nb3 Bc8 30. Ra1 Bd7 31. Bd3 Ng5 32. Nxg5 Qxg5 33. Nc5 Bg4 34. Rxa8 Rxa8 35. e6 Bf6 36. Be2 Bf5 37. Bd3 Bg4 38. Be2 Bf5 39. Bd3 Bg4 1/2-1/2.

White Christian Bauer
Black Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Qa5 8. O-O O-O 9. Bb3 d6 10. h3 Bd7 11. f4 Rac8 12. Qd3 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bc6 14. Rae1 Nd7 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nd5 Qc5+ 17. Rf2 Rfe8 18. Qd2 e6 19. Nc3 b5 20. a3 a5 21. e5 dxe5 22. fxe5 Rf8 23. Qf4 Rcd8 24. Qg3 a4 25. Ba2 b4 26. Ne4 Bxe4 27. Rxe4 b3 28. cxb3 Qc1+ 29. Kh2 Qa1 30. Rxa4 Qxa2 31. Ra7 Qb1 32. Rd2 Nb8 33. Rxd8 Rxd8 34. Qf2 Qf5 35. Qxf5 gxf5 36. b4 Nc6 37. Rc7 Nxe5 38. b5 Rd3 39. b6 Rb3 40. b7 f4 41. a4 Rxb2 42. Kg1 f3 43. gxf3 Nxf3+ 44. Kf1 Nd2+ 45. Ke1 Nc4 46. Rxc4 Rxb7 47. Kd2 Kf6 48. Kc3 Ke5 49. a5 Kd5 50. Rc8 f5 51. Rd8+ Ke4 52. Rd4+ Kf3 53. Rd3+ Kg2 54. a6 Ra7 55. Rd6 f4 56. Kd3 f3 57. Ke3 f2 58. Rd2 Rxa6 59. Rxf2+ Kxh3 60. Rf6 h5 61. Rg6 h4 62. Kf2 Ra2+ 63. Kf3 Ra3+ 64. Kf2 e5 65. Re6 Ra5 66. Kf3 Kh2 67. Rb6 Ra4 68. Rb2+ Kh3 69. Rb8 Rf4+ 70. Ke2 Kg3 71. Rb3+ Kg2 0-1.

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