Wei Yi draws first blood in four game match against Richard Rapport

Wei Yi draws first blood against Richard Rapport

GM Wei Yi of China is playing Hungarian GM Richard Rapport in a four game match in Yancheng, China 20th to 23rd December 2016. Richard Rapport [born 1996] is number one in the current world junior rating list at 2717 and Wei Yi [born 1999] is number two at 2707.

Opening Ceremony

In the first game, Richard Rapport played 3 ...b6 in the French, instead of more commonly played moves like 3 ...Nf6 or 3 ...c5; a plan which seemed to serve him well, as 20 moves in he had a comfortable advantage. Admittedly the position was pretty unbalanced, and an inaccuracy by Rapport let Wei back into the game. The Chinese GM wasted no time in launching an impressive attack to win the first round in style.

Richard Rapport

Wei Yi

Rapport has the white pieces in round two.

Photos and information courtesy of the official match web page: Official Site