FTX Road to Miami: Wei knocks out Rapport

“I think I can go”

Seven and a half years ago, Wei Yi won the Tata Steel Challengers with an undefeated 10½/13 score and a tournament performance rating of 2804. Two months later, he would become the youngest-ever player to cross the 2700-rating barrier. He was 15 years old. Following his rapid ascent, he was expected to reach the elite in no time. But becoming a top-10 player is a tall order. Wei’s peak rating of 2753 was achieved in August 2017, but he never quite managed to break through to the very top.

Winning Chess Strategies Vol.1 and 2

Throughout this video course, we will study how to master sacrifices and the initiative in several aspects: opposite-coloured bishops, the bishop pair, the exchange sacrifice, launching an attack, and the good moment to sacrifice will be covered.

The talent of the Chinese star has never been in doubt. In fact, perhaps his insistence on playing sharp games might have to do with his inability to further climb up the rating ladder. Nonetheless, since August 2016 he has never fallen below the 2700-mark, which is a remarkable feat in itself — two consecutive subpar performances are more than enough to lose plenty of rating points.

Now, in his second participation at a Meltwar Chess Tour event, the 23-year-old has reached the final. Moreover, commentator Peter Leko has been praising Wei’s play, noting that he seems to have substantially improved in the last year and a half.

With his victory over Richard Rapport, Wei qualified to the FTX Crypto Cup, which is set to take place in Miami next month. Given the strict Covid-19 restrictions in China, he was asked if he would be able to make the trip. A smiling Wei responded, “I think I can go”.

Wei 2½ - ½ Rapport

Back-to-back wins in games 2 and 3 gave Wei the ticket to the final. The consecutive wins followed a 129-move draw in game 1, when the Chinese was trying to convert an endgame with rook and two extra pawns against a pair of minor pieces.

In a sharp second game, Wei prevailed with the black pieces after effectively dealing with Rapport’s strong initiative in the early middlegame. Finally, in game 3, the Hungarian faltered early on, out of a double-edged Sicilian.

White has just captured a bishop with 14.Bxa7, and 14...Rxa7 would simply keep the game going with chances for both sides. Rapport’s 14...Nxf4, on the other hand, was a tactical error. After 15.Qf3 Nxd3+ 16.Rxd3, Black cannot restore the material balance.

16...Nxa7 would fail to 17.Qxa8, while Black cannot both capture the bishop and defend the attacked knight. Rapport perhaps counted with 16...Rxa7 17.Qxc6 Bd7, but White has 18.Qb6 (attacking the rook) Qb8 19.Qa5, defending everything.

Rapport had not foreseen all the sub-variations and simply found himself a piece down. The rest was not at all trivial, but Wei continued to show excellent calculation abilities until getting a 36-move victory.

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

Aronian 3 - 1 Duda

Despite his slow start in the semis, Levon Aronian has shown his usual (strong) level in the knockout stage of the event. After knocking out an in-form Arjun Erigaisi on Thursday, he twice defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the black pieces to move on to the finals.

In game 2, the Armenian-born star saw his opponent missing a chance to save a draw in a rook endgame. Duda was a pawn down, but as GM Karsten Müller demonstrates in his analysis below, he could have kept the balance with the correct technique.

 

Duda, Jan-Krzysztof2750

0–1

Aronian, Levon2775

FTX Road to Miami KO 2022 Online15.07.2022[Mueller,Karsten]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 exd4 7.Qxd4 Qxd4 8.Nxd4 Bd7 9.Bxc4 Nc6 10.Nxc6 Bxc6 11.Nc3 Ne7 12.f3 0-0 13.Kf2 Rfd8 14.Rhd1 Kf8 15.Ne2 Ba4 16.b3 Be8 17.Ke3 c5 18.Nf4 b6 19.Rac1 Rxd1 20.Rxd1 Nc6 21.Rd2 Rd8 22.Nd3 Rd4 23.Rc2 a5 24.a3 Bd7 25.Rc3 f5 26.Nf4 fxe4 27.fxe4 Rd6 28.Bb5 Ke8 29.Nd5 Ne7 30.Bc4 Nxd5+ 31.Bxd5 a4 32.b4 cxb4 33.axb4 Kd8 34.Kd4 Rg6 35.g3 Rh6 36.h4 Rg6 37.Kc4 Rf6 38.e5 Rg6 39.Be4 Rg4 40.Kd5 h5 41.Re3 Ke7 42.e6 Bxe6+ 43.Ke5 g6 44.Rc3 Bf5 45.Bd5 Kd8 46.b5 Bd7 47.Kd6 Rd4 48.Rf3 Bxb5 49.Rf8+ Be8 50.Ke5 Rd2 51.Bc6 Re2+ 52.Kd6 a3 53.Bxe8 Rxe8 54.Rf3 Kc8 55.Rxa3 Kb7

Rook endings are always drawn. But over the board matters are often not easy: 56.g4? Duda rushes to exchange pawns and activate the rook. Only after 56.Rf3 Rd8+ 57.Ke5 Rc8 can 57...b5 58.Rf6 b4 59.Rf4= 58.g4‼ be played: hxg4 59.Rf4 Rc5+ 60.Kd4 Rh5 61.Rxg4 Rh6 62.Kc4 Ka6 63.Kb4 b5 64.Kb3 Ka5 65.Rg1= 56...hxg4 57.Ra4 g3 58.Rg4 Rh8 59.Kd5 g2 60.Rxg6 60.Kc4 Rxh4 61.Kb5 can be met by Rh5+ Of course not 61...Rxg4?? stalemate. 62.Kb4 Ka6 63.Rxg2 Rb5+ 64.Ka4 g5-+ 60...Rxh4

The horizontal cut-off will decide. 61.Rxg2 Ka6 62.Ra2+ Kb5 63.Ra1 Ra4 64.Rb1+ Ka5 65.Kc6 Rc4+ 66.Kb7 b5 67.Ra1+ Ra4 68.Rh1 Ra2 69.Rh8 Rg2 70.Ra8+ 70.Kc6 Rc2+ 71.Kd5 Ka4-+ 70...Kb4 71.Ra1 Kc3 0–1

Links

• Official site
• All news on the Chessable Masters
• All news on the Oslo Esports Cup
• All news on the Charity Cup
• All news on the Airthings Masters