Yu Yangyi repeats as Chinese champion

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/15/2021 – Despite losing his last-round encounter against women’s world champion Ju Wenjun, Yu Yangyi won the open section of the Chinese Championship for a second time in less than six months. The fourth highest-rated player in the country collected 7 points in 11 rounds and edged Wei Yi and Li Di on tiebreaks. Tan Zhongyi had already secured first place in the women’s section with a round to spare.
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Ju beats Yu

Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun, much like in December last year, decided to participate in the open section of the national championships instead of entering the women’s tournament as the rating favourite. Until round 10, the player from Shanghai had been struggling, having scored eight draws and suffered two defeats up to that point. A win in the last round against the eventual champion, however, allowed her to finish in the pack sharing 5th-10th places on 5/11 — thanks to that win, she also ended the event with a rating gain. 

Yu Yangyi, who won the 2020 edition with an 8/11 score, got his second consecutive title after collecting 7 points in the same number of rounds as last year. The lineup was slightly stronger this time around.

Wei Yi and Li Di both won their last-round encounters to catch up with the leader — Yu was a full point ahead of them going into the eleventh round — but both finished the tournament with a lower tiebreak score. This is the second time this happens to Wei, who was also the rating favourite last year.

Ju Wenjun

Ju Wenjun | Photo: David Llada / FIDE

The game between Ju Wenjun and Yu Yangyi took a decisive turn when Yu Yangyi — presumably searching for activity — gave away an important pawn in the endgame:

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.Nc3 d6 6.a4 0-0 7.h3 Be6 8.0-0 Nxe4 9.Nxe4 d5 10.Neg5 dxc4 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.dxc4 Qxd1 13.Rxd1 Bc5 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.fxe3 h6 16.Rd7 Rf7
In this position, White has a small advantage due to its slightly better structure, but it was anything but decisive. 17.Rxf7 Or 17.Rad1 Raf8 18.e4 Rxd7 19.Rxd7 Rf7= 17...Kxf7 18.Rf1 Since the occupation of the 7th rank was only temporary, Ju Wenjun preferred to keep a pair of rooks on the board. That way, she kept her chances to eventually increase her edge and win the game. Ke8 19.Kf2 Ke7 20.Ke2 Rf8 There is little more Black can do to improve his pieces. 21.Rb1 a5 22.c3 b6 23.Kd3 Nb8! But now he's got this idea. 24.Nxe5 Rf2 The active rook replaces the sacrificed pawn. 25.c5 bxc5 26.g4
26...Nd7? The knight did not look good on b8, but he was controlling the c6-square from that spot. Obvious was 26...Rh2 but Yu Yangyi probably didn't want to leave the f-file to his opponent. 27.Nc6+ Kd6 28.Nxa5 Nb6 29.Nc4+ Kc6 30.a5!
Now Ju Wenjun has a winning advantage. 30...Nxc4 31.Kxc4 Re2 32.a6 Kb6 33.Ra1 Ka7 34.Ra5 Rxb2 35.Rxc5 The rook grabs black pawns at will. Kb6 36.Re5 Kxa6 37.Rxe6+ Kb7 38.h4 Ra2 39.Kd3 Rf2 40.Rg6 Rf7 41.e4 An extra pawn and the more active rook - that's enough to win this endgame. c6 42.e5 Kb6 43.Ke4 Kc5 44.h5 Kb5 45.Rd6 Kc5 46.Rd8 Re7 47.Rd4 Kb5 48.Kf5 c5 49.Rd1 Rf7+ 50.Ke6 Ra7 51.Kd6 Kc4 52.e6 Ra6+ 53.Kd7 Ra7+ 54.Ke8 Kxc3 55.e7 Ra2 56.Kd7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ju,W2560Yu,Y27091–02021C55Chinese-ch Men 202111.5

Final standings - Open section

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Yu Yangyi 7,0 1,5
2 Wei Yi 7,0 1,0
3 Li Di 7,0 0,5
4 Lu Shanglei 6,0 0,0
5 Xu Yinglun 5,0 3,0
6 Liu Yan 5,0 3,0
7 Xu Xiangyu 5,0 2,5
8 Zhao Jun 5,0 2,5
9 Ju Wenjun 5,0 2,0
10 Xu Zhihang 5,0 2,0
11 Bai Jinshi 4,5 0,5
12 Xu Yi 4,5 0,5

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Tan also loses in the last round

In the women’s section, we also saw a repeat champion, with Tan Zhongyi securing her title with a round to spare. However, much like Yu in the open section, she also finished the tournament with a defeat. Tan came from getting six wins in a row, and played second seed Zhu Jhiner in the last round.

Zhu was an exchange up and had a powerful light-squared bishop in the long diagonal in an open position with plenty of pieces still on the board. 

 
Tan vs. Zhu - Round 11

50...Bxg2+ 51.Kg1 and White does not need to save the rook to win the game — 51...Bxh3 52.Kxf2 Bxg4

 

53.Nxf6 Rf8 54.Qxg4 Qxg4 and the tournament’s winner resigned.

Final standings - Women’s section

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Tan Zhongyi 8,5 0,0
2 Ning Kaiyu 8,0 1,0
3 Zhu Jiner 8,0 0,0
4 Song Yuxin 6,5 0,0
5 Xiao Yiyi 6,0 0,5
6 Zhai Mo 6,0 0,5
7 Li Xueyi 4,5 2,0
8 Wang Yu A. 4,5 0,5
9 Gu Tianlu 4,5 0,5
10 Yuan Ye 3,5 1,0
11 Ren Xiaoyi 3,5 0,0
12 Gu Xiaobing 2,5 0,0

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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