Iron Mountain Baby

韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
28th Torneo Magistral “Ciudad de León”; match game 3; León, June 14, 2015
Sicilian Defence B35

“It was the third game where Wéi Yì struck first, with very powerful play. It wasn’t easy to point out where Black went wrong. The young Chinese won an Exchange, and allowed no counterplay”, Peter Doggers wrote.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Qa5 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Nb3 Qc7 10. f4 d6 11. Be2 Bd7 12. Qe1!? For 12.Bf3 Rfe8 13.g4 h6 14.Qe2 Na5 see Zakharov – Osnos, 31st USSR Chess Championship, Leningrad 1963. Apparently sharper is 12. g4!?, but 12. ... h6! 13. Rf2 Nh7 leads to nothing special for White, Hort – Minaya Molano, 16th Chess Olympiad, Tel Aviv 1964. 12. ... a6 13. Rd1 b5 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Nd8. 15. ... Na7 16. c3 does not make much difference: White stands a little better. 16. Nd4 e5 17. fxe5 dxe5

18. d6! Qc8. Clearly not 18. ... Qxd6?? because of 19. Nf5 Qc7 20. Nxg7 Kxg7 21. Qh4 with an overwhelming attack. 19. Nb3 Ne6? Comparatively better is 19. ... f5, although after 20. c4! White keeps the upper hand. 20. Bf3 Rb8. If 20. ... Bc6 there follows 21. d7! Qc7 22. Bxc6 Qxc6 23. Qf2 with a clear edge for White. 21. Ba7 Rb7 22. Qf2. 韦奕 (Wéi Yì), in his usual boa constrictor style, tightens the grip before to cash in. 22. ... f5 23. Bd5 Kh8 24. Na5. Now Black is forced to give up the Exchange and enter an endgame which is hopelessly lost. 24. ... Rxa7 25. Qxa7 Qc5+ 26. Qxc5 Nxc5 27. b4 Na4 28. Bc6. 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) finishes the game with superlative technique. 28. ... Rf7 29. Bxd7 Rxd7 30. Nb3 Bf8 31. Nc5 Rxd6 32. Rxd6 Bxd6 33. Nxa4 bxa4 34. a3 e4 35. Rd1 Be5 36. c4 Kg7 37. b5 axb5 38. cxb5 Kf6 39. b6 Ke7 40. b7 Bc7 41. Rb1 1 : 0.

韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
Photo: Torneo Magistral “Ciudad de León”