The Boy With No Trolley

韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – Loek van Wely
79th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 21, 2017
Sicilian Defence B94

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6. What a courage... 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Bc4 Qb6 8. 0-0 Qc5 9. Bd5 e6 10. Re1 Be7 11. Be3 Qa5 12. Bxe6! The first surprise comes from 韦奕 (Wéi Yì), who previously played 12. Bb3 Nc5 13. f3 Qc7 14. a4 Nxb3 15. Nxb3 b6 16. Qe2 0-0 17. Rad1 Rb8 18. Kh1 Bb7 19. Bg5 Rfe8 20. Rd3 h6 21. Bf4 Nd7 22. Bg3 Ne5 23. Rd4 Rbc8 24. Nd2 Nc6 25. Rc4 Qb8 26. Qd1 Ba8 ½ : ½ 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – 徐英伦 (Xú Yīnglún), Chinese Team Chess Championship, 深圳 (Shēnzhèn) 2015. 12. ... fxe6 13. Nxe6 Nc5? After very long thought, van Wely blunders into ruin. Best was 13. ... Kf7 14. Ng5+ Kf8 15. Ne6+ Kf7 16. Ng5+ Kf8 17. f4 h6∞ forcing White to confront a difficult dilemma (to be or not to be content with a draw?), Kuybokarov – Gupta, 15th Asian Continental Championship, Tashkent 2016.

14. b4! A brilliant refutation. 14. ... Qxb4 15. Nc7+ Kd8 16. N3d5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Qa3 18. Nb6? 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) loses, for a moment, his tactical grasp. Here 18. e5! seems totally crushing. 18. ... Rb8 19. Nc4 Qb4 20. Nxd6 Nd3! The best possible move, which 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) must have overlooked. “Is Loeky escaping to a possibly defensible ending? After 12 moves it looked like he might not survive to see move 20”, wonders Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, while following the game from Gibraltar. 21. Qxd3 Qxd6 22. Qxd6+ Bxd6 23. Rad1 Kc7 24. Rxd6! Luckily for him, White had at his disposal this little tactics which enables him to liquidate into a Rook and Bishop ending with two Pawns ahead. On the other hand, van Wely may still rely on the Bishops of opposite colour. 24. ... Kxd6 25. Bf4+ Ke6 26. Bxb8 Bd7 27. Ba7 Rc8 28. Rc1 Rc4 29. f3 Ra4 30. Ra1 Rc4 31. c3 b5 32. a3 a5 33. Bb6 Ra4 34. Bd4 g6 35. Kf2 g5 36. Ke3 Bc6 37. Kd2 h5 38. Kc2 b4 39. cxb4 axb4 40. axb4 Rxb4 41. Kc3 Ra4. Black’s last hope for a draw. But 韦奕 (Wéi Yì), after calculating everything perfectly, eloquently demonstrates that not all the Bishops of opposite colour endgames are drawn: 42. Rxa4! Bxa4 43. g3 h4 44. f4! gxf4 45. gxf4 h3 46. Kd2 Kd6 47. Ke3 Bc2 48. f5 Kc6 49. Kf4 Bd3 50. Bb2 Bc2 51. e5 Kd5 52. Kg5 Bd3 53. e6 1 : 0.

韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
Photo: sports.sina.com.cn