The line-up of the King's Tournament is impressive: Six of the top eight of the country start, only Li Chao (2.) and Wang Hao (7.) are missing. They are replaced by Zhao Jun (12.) and Lu Shanglei (13.). But in the first round Lu Shanglei showed how dangerous he is and eliminated Ding Liren - though he needed some luck to do so.
No luck in the first round: Ding Liren
Lu Shanglei, World Junior Champion 2014 (Photo: Amruta Mokal)
Chinese prodigy Wei fared much better. After a draw in the first game he scored a convincing win against Zhao Jun.
Wei Yi
Wang Yue, China's top board at the Chess Olympiad 2014 in Tromso, lost to Bu Xiangzhi. After a draw in the first round he risked opening duel in a topical variation and fell victim to a vicious counter-attack.
Wang Yue
After two draws in the first two games the match between Yu Yangyi and Ni Hua was decided in the tie-break. Yu Yangyi won through a victory in game three, in which he stubbornly and patiently looked for chances in a rather blocked position that seemed hard to win.
Yu Yangyi
In the second round Bu Xiangzi plays against Lu Shanglei and Yu Yangyi against Wei Yi. The first games of both matches ended in a draw.
China's top woman player Hou Yifan is missing in the Queens Tournament but with Ju Wenjun (2.), Zhao Xue (3.), Tan Zongyi (4.), Shen Yang (5.), Ding Yixin (7.), Lei Tingjie (8.) and Guo Qi (9.) the line-up is still impressively strong. The 13-year old talent Zhu Jiner completed the field.
However, in the first round Zhu Jiner had to play against Ju Wenjun and lost. After a draw in the first game Ju Wenjun convincingly outplayed her young opponent with Black in a positional Najdorf that led to a middlegame with opposite-colored bishops.
Ding Yixin managed to beat Shen Yang - here the first game of their match proved decisive. In this game Shen Yang played with Black and managed to seize the initiative right after the opening but then ran into a surprisingly strong counterattack.
Shen Yang
Tan Zhongyi came to a 1.5-0.5 victory against Lei Tingjie and Guo Qi scored a clear 2-0 win against Zhao Xue. But Guo Qi's winning streak ended in the semi-finals where she lost the first game against Tan Zhongyi. Ding Yixin and Ju Wenjun started their match with a draw.
Tan Zongyi
Photos: Tournament page...
