Wei Yi beats Levon Aronian in classical and rapid chess match

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
7/9/2025 – Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi secured a convincing victory over US representative Levon Aronian in the 2025 Yanwu Cup Grandmaster Match, held in Yancheng, China. Originally scheduled for eight games, the match concluded early after Wei Yi built an unassailable lead. Featuring both classical and rapid formats, the event highlighted Wei's consistent form and boosted his international rankings. | Photo: Frans Peeters / Tata Steel Chess

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A match in Wei's hometown

The Yanwu Cup was held in Yancheng, China on 1-6 July, and featured a high-profile encounter between Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi and Armenian-born grandmaster Levon Aronian, now representing the United States.

The match was hosted in Wei Yi's home city of Yancheng, located in Jiangsu province on China's eastern coast. Known as "Salt City" due to its historic sea salt production dating back to the Han dynasty, Yancheng today remains a major regional centre and is the largest jurisdictional city in Jiangsu province.

The match format included four classical games and four rapid games, with the classical games weighted double in the overall score. Time controls for the classical section were 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment per move throughout. The rapid games were played with a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment.

In the event of a tie after all eight games, a tiebreak would have followed, consisting of blitz games and, if needed, a final Armageddon game.

The first two classical games ended in draws, maintaining a level score. In the third game, however, Wei broke through, securing a win and taking a 4–2 lead due to the double-weighted scoring of classical victories. The fourth and final classical game was again drawn, bringing the score to 5–3 in favour of Wei before the rapid portion of the match.

Wei went on to win the first two rapid games, extending his lead to an unassailable 7–3, thereby clinching the match with two games to spare. As a result, the final two rapid games were not played.

Wei 1-0 Aronian, rapid game #2

Analysis by André Schulz

Wei, Yi27481–0Aronian, Levon2742
Rapid Round 2: Wei, Yi - Aronian, Levon
26.06.2025[Schulz,A]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 This is the classical setup in the Sicilian Defence. 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.Qd2 a6 An alternative system is 7...Rc8 8.0-0-0 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Qa5 10.f4 Rxc3 11.bxc3 e5 8.0-0-0 e6 9.Kb1 The main line is 9.f4 b5 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Kb1 Qb6 9...Nxd4 10.Qxd4 h6 11.Be3 Bc6 11...Ng4 12.Bc1 Qf6 13.f3 Qxd4 14.Rxd4 Nf6 15.Be2 Bc6 16.Rhd1 d5= 1-0 (45) Wang,Y (2677)-Zhang,D (2114) Hohhot 2024 12.f4 b5 13.Be2
13...Qb8?! Turns out to be a loss of tempo. 13...Qc7!? 14.e5 dxe5 15.fxe5 Nd7 16.Bf3 Qc7 17.Bxc6 Qxc6 18.Rhf1 Be7?! Better was 18...Rc8 19.Qf4 f5 20.exf6 Nxf6± 19.Qg4 g6 20.Ne4 Rc8
21.Rf2 Also good was 21.Nd6+ Bxd6 22.Rxd6 for example: Qxc2+ 23.Ka1 Qc4 24.Qf3 Rf8 25.Rfd1+- 21...Nxe5 22.Qf4 Qc7 23.Bd4 Rd8 24.Rfd2 Rxd4 25.Rxd4 0-0 26.Nf6+ Bxf6 27.Qxf6 Nc6 28.Rh4 Qe5 29.Qxe5 Nxe5 30.Rxh6 Ng4 31.Rh4 Ne3 32.Rd3 Nd5 33.Rdh3
1–0

Wei Yi's performance was not only decisive in the match but also had a notable impact on his rating standings:

  • The Chinese grandmaster gained 4.6 Elo points in classical chess, consolidating his position as number 9 in the world.
  • In rapid chess, he gained 4.0 points, rising to 5th place in the live rapid ratings.

All games

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Re1 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.Nbd2 Nb6 11.b4 Be7 12.Qe2 Nxc4 13.Nxc4 f6 14.b5 Nb8 15.d4 a6 16.Rb1 Bg6 17.Rb2 axb5 18.Rxb5 b6 19.Nh4 Be8 20.Rb2 Nc6 21.Nf5 Bg6 22.Nxe7+ Nxe7 23.Rd1 Nd5 24.Ne3 Nxe3 25.Bxe3 exd4 26.Rxd4 Qe7 27.Qc4+ Bf7 28.Qc6 Ra3 29.Rbd2 Be8 30.Qd5+ Bf7 31.Re4 Bxd5 32.Rxe7 c6 33.c4 Bxc4 34.Rdd7 Bf7 35.Bxb6 Rxa2 36.Bc5 h5 37.Rb7 Ra1+ 38.Kh2 Ra5 39.Bd6 Rg5 40.f4 Rg6 41.f5 Rg5 42.Red7 Re8 43.h4 Rg4 44.Rxf7 Rxh4+ 45.Kg1 Rg4 46.Rfc7 Ra8 47.Rxc6 Ra5 48.Rc8+ Kh7 49.Bc5 Rg5 50.Be3 Rg4 51.Rbb8 Rxf5 52.Rh8+ Kg6 53.Rb7 Ra5 54.Rb2 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wei,Y2748Aronian,L2742½–½2025C54Classical Round 1: Wei, Yi - Aronian, L1.1
Aronian,L2742Wei,Y2748½–½2025C42Classical Round 2: Aronian, Levon - Wei2.1
Wei,Y2748Aronian,L27421–02025C54Classical Round 3: Wei, Yi - Aronian, L3.1
Aronian,L2742Wei,Y2748½–½2025C42Classical Round 4: Aronian, Levon - Wei4.1
Aronian,L2742Wei,Y27480–12025C42Rapid Round 1: Aronian, Levon - Wei, Yi5.1
Wei,Y2748Aronian,L27421–02025B67Rapid Round 2: Wei, Yi - Aronian, Levon6.1

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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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