Jerusalem GP: Wei Yi in the final

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
12/20/2019 – Wei Yi will face Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the Jerusalem Grand Prix. The 20-year-old from China defeated David Navara in game two of tiebreaks after having split the point in a lengthy first encounter of the day. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and his fans will be following the final closely, as the French grandmaster will be granted a spot in the Candidates if Wei Yi gets match victory. | Photo: Niki Riga

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Two fighters at heart


The fourth leg of the FIDE Grand Prix is being played in Jerusalem, Israel. The 16-player knockout has a €130,000 prize fund, with the series as a whole having an additional prize fund of €280,000 plus two qualifying spots for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The tournament takes place in the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre from December 11th to 23rd.


Wei YiFrench fans will be rooting for Wei Yi starting Saturday as the final of the Grand Prix in Jerusalem will decide whether Maxime Vachier-Lagrave qualifies to the Candidates or not. This is the final hope for 'MVL', who will not be getting the wildcard spot, which is reserved for a Russian player — the host federation announced they will award the ticket to a national representative.

For Ian Nepomniachtchi, on the other hand, beating Wei Yi is not a must, as he will most likely face Kirill Alekseenko in a match to get in as the wildcard if he ends up losing the final — Alekseenko became an eligible player due to his good performance on the Isle of Man.

Although Nepomniachtchi is the rating favourite against Wei Yi, the 20-year-old from Yancheng should not be underestimated. He is not one to shy away from sharp fights — moreover, he is highly dangerous when dealing with complications — and, as proven throughout the event in Israel, he can also handle long struggles in queenless positions. The Chinese prodigy eliminated long-time members of the elite Anish Giri and Sergey Karjakin in the first two rounds. 

The final kicks off Saturday after the one scheduled rest day of the tournament. The format used in previous rounds is maintained: two classical games followed by rapid and, if necessary, blitz tiebreakers.

Game 1: Bare kings, again

For a third game in a row, the contenders continued playing until lone kings stood on the board. Their first rapid encounter lasted 91 moves and over an hour and twenty minutes — in a game with a 25'+10" time control.  They entered a queenless middlegame in which White had an extra pawn, but also the less active pieces.

 
Navara vs. Wei Yi
Position after 25...Rd6

Here White could have eased his defensive task with 26.e5 ♞xe5 27.♘xe5 ♝xe5 28.♖xd6 ♝xd6 29.a4, when the reduced material means Black does not have as many chances to complicate matters. Instead, Navara went for 26.b4, and after 26...xa3 27.b3 there followed 27...c1, keeping Black's initiative.

With the pawn structures mostly kept untouched, a battle of manoeuvres ensued. Soon enough, it was White who gave up a pawn, and Wei Yi started to look for ways to break Navara's stubborn defence. On move 53, the Chinese decided he needed to open up the position a bit:

 
Position after 53.Ba5

There followed 53...d5+ 54.exd5+ xd5 55.c5+ d6 56.xa6 and the material balance had been restored. Nevertheless, White's pieces were not quite centralized...

 
Position after 56.Nxa6

Black used his better-placed pieces to gain the h-pawn, but when the minor pieces left the board a rook endgame with 3 v 2 meant Black had little to no chances to win the game against a player of Navara's calibre. The Czech grandmaster showed the appropriate defensive technique to get the draw.

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qb3 Nb6 6.d4 Bg7 7.e4 Bg4 D90: Grünfeld: 4 Nf3 Bg7 sidelines 8.Bb5+ c6 9.Ng5 0-0 10.Be2 Bxe2 11.Nxe2 c5 11...Na6 12.Qh3 h6 13.Nf3 h5 14.Rg1 Nb4 15.g4 1-0 (31) Wojtaszek,R (2745)-Mamedyarov,S (2772) Shamkir 2017 12.dxc5 N6d7! 13.Qxb7 Qa5+ 14.Bd2 Reject 14.Kf1 Na6 14...Qa6 15.c6 Qxc6 16.Qxc6 Nxc6 17.Rc1N Rac8 18.b3 Nde5
And now ...Nd3+ would win. 19.0-0 Nd3 20.Rcd1 Nb2 21.Rb1 Rfd8 22.Nf3 Nd3 23.Rfd1 Ncb4 24.a3 24.Bxb4 Nxb4 25.Rxd8+ Rxd8 26.a4 24...Nc2! White is under pressure. 25.Ba5 Rd6 26.b4 26.e5= Nxe5 27.Nxe5 Bxe5 28.Rxd6 Bxd6 29.a4 26...Nxa3 27.Rb3 Nc1 28.Rxd6 exd6 29.Rxa3 aiming for Kf1. Nxe2+ 30.Kf1
30...Nc3! 31.b5 Nxb5 32.Ra2 Rc4 33.Bd2 Rc6 34.Ke2 Kf8 35.Kd3 a6 36.Bb4 Ke8 37.Nd2 Kd7 38.Nc4 Bd4 39.f3 Bg1 40.Ra1 Bd4 41.Ra4 Bg1 42.Ra1! Bd4 43.Ra4 Be5 44.g3 Ke6 45.f4 Bg7 46.Na5 Rc7 47.Nc4 Rc6 48.Na5 Rc1 49.Nb3 Rb1 50.Kc4 Nc7! 51.Ba5 Nb5 52.Bb4! Nc7 53.Ba5! d5+ 54.exd5+ Nxd5 ...Ne3+ is the strong threat. 55.Nc5+ Kd6 Hoping for ...Rc1+. 56.Nxa6 Rb2 57.Bb4+! Nxb4 58.Nxb4 Rxh2= Endgame KRB-KRN 59.Ra6+ Kd7 60.Nd3 Rc2+ 61.Kd5! Rc7 61...Rd2 keeps more tension. 62.Ra7+ Ke8 63.Ra8+ Ke7 64.Ra7+ Kf6 62.Ne5+ Bxe5 63.Kxe5 KR-KR Ke7 64.g4 Rc4 65.Ra7+ Kf8 66.f5 Rc5+ 67.Kf6 Ra8+ would kill now. Rc6+ 68.Kg5 Kg7 69.fxg6 hxg6 70.Rb7 Rc4 71.Ra7 Re4 72.Rb7 Kf8 73.Rb8+ Re8 74.Rb7 Re7 75.Rb8+ Kg7 76.Kf4 f6 77.Rb6 Rc7 78.Kg3 Rc3+ 79.Kf2 Kf7 80.Rb7+ Ke6 81.Rb6+ Kf7 82.Rb7+ Kf8 83.g5 f5 84.Rb6 The position is equal. Kf7 85.Rb7+ Ke8 86.Rb6 f4 87.Rxg6 Rg3 88.Rf6 Rxg5 89.Rxf4 Rg7 90.Kf3 Rf7 91.Rxf7 Kxf7 Accuracy: White = 76%, Black = 65%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Navara,D2707Wei,Y2725½–½2019Grand Prix Jerusalem 20193.3

David Navara

David Navara playing 9.♘g5 during game one | Photo: Niki Riga

Game 2: An awkward position

Wei Yi decided to avoid long theoretical lines by using a hypermodern approach with the white pieces (he played 1.f3, 2.b3, 3.b2, 4.d3, 5.bd2, 6.g3), following lines previously employed by the likes of Richard Rapport or Alexander Grischuk. Navara did not react befittingly and was already on the back foot by move 10:

 
Wei Yi vs. Navara
Position after 10.Bg2

Commentator Evgeny Miroshnichenko had been pointing out repeatedly that perhaps Navara's strategical inaccuracy in the early opening was to both put his light-squared bishop on the h7-b1 diagonal and play ...c5 — it would be better to either have a pawn on c6 or keep the bishop on c8. This resulted in Black having to opt for the awkward 10...d8 in the diagrammed position.

Better options were 10...♝e7 or 10...d4, but it is hard to blame Navara for not choosing these alternatives, as they both were big strategical concessions. After 10...♝e7, White has 11.e5 and there is nothing better than 11...♞g8, while after 10...d4 White would play 11.f4 and Black's pieces have little mobility.

Wei Yi immediately opened up the centre, looking for ways to punish his opponent's mistakes. Navara was not able to castle and had to compromise his kingside pawn structure. By move 17, White already had a strong tactical shot at hand:

 
Position after 16...Qd7

There followed 17.xe6 xe6 18.xd5 d7 19.xf7, and the vulnerable black king had to escape to d8. Black's position was in tatters and Wei Yi needed ten more moves to force his opponent to resign.

The four-game face-off was an illustration of how a direct match can show fighting chess from start to finish. Wei Yi is definitely a worthy challenger for the title. And kudos to Navara, for his valiant play throughout the event.

 
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1.Nf3 d5 2.b3 Bf5 3.Bb2 e6 4.d3 h6 5.Nbd2 Nf6 6.g3 c5 7.Ne5 Nbd7 8.e4 Bh7 9.Nxd7 Qxd7 10.Bg2 Qd8 11.exd5 exd5 12.Qe2+ Be7 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.0-0 Bf5 15.Rae1 Be6 16.Qh5 Qd7 17.Rxe6 Qxe6 18.Bxd5 Qd7 19.Bxf7+ Kd8 20.Re1 Kc7 21.Be6 Qd8 22.Nc4 a6 23.Bd5 Ra7 24.Qf7 Re8 25.Bf3 b5 26.Na5 Kb6 27.Nc6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wei,Y2725Navara,D27071–02019Grand Prix Jerusalem 20193.4

David Navara

Navara gained four Grand Prix points in Jerusalem | Photo: Niki Riga


Commentary webcast

Official broadcast with GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko via worldchess.com


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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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jackyessir jackyessir 12/21/2019 05:29
Wonderful report. Hope MVL goes through - only if Wei Wins !
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