Light Through an Eastern Window

韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – Gawain Christopher B. Jones
80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 16, 2018
King’s Indian Defence E92

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. h3 0-0 6. Nf3. Jones insists with the King’s Indian, although also against Caruana, in their second-round game, after 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. g4 Nc5 9. f3 h5 10. Qd2 Nh7 11. 0-0-0 Black soon got crushed on both wings, Caruana – Jones, 80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2018. 6. ... e5 7. d5 a5 8. Bg5 Na6 9. Be2 Qe8 10. g4 Kh8 11. Nd2 Ng8 12. h4 f5 13. gxf5 gxf5 14. Bh5 Qd7 15. Qe2! A significant improvement over 15. exf5? Qxf5 16. Nde4 Nc5 17. Qe2 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Nf6 and Black stands better already, K. T. Solomon – D. Popović, 30th International Open, Cappelle-la-Grande 2014. 15. ... Nf6 16. Bf3 fxe4 17. Ndxe4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Nb4 19. Bg2 Qa4? Perhaps trusting too much on his good luck. In fact, the text concedes White a powerful position centred on the strategic domination of the e4-square, so it seems better to play 19. ... c6 in order to answer 20. a3 by 20. ... cxd5 with quite a reasonable game. 20. Nc3! Qc2 21. Be4! Qxe2+ 22. Kxe2 Bg4+ 23. f3 Bh5 24. Rag1 Rf7 25. Be3 Bf6? It’s hard to blame Jones for overlooking 韦奕 (Wéi Yì)’s deadly blow, as also after 25. ... Raf8 26. Rh3 White’s positional advantage was likely to be telling in the long run.

26. Rg5! A spectacular coup de grâce delivered by 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) in spite of his shortage of time. 26. ... Bg6 27. Bxg6 hxg6 28. Rxg6 Nc2 29. Ne4 Be7 30. Ng5 Rf6 31. Rxf6 Bxf6 32. Ne6 Nxe3 33. Kxe3 Rg8 34. Ke4 c6 35. Kf5 Be7 36. Ng5 Re8 37. Ne4 Kg7 38. Ke6 Bf8+ 39. Kd7 Re7+ 40. Kxd6 Kf7 41. Rg1 cxd5 42. cxd5 Ke8 43. Nf6+ Kd8 44. Rg8 Re8+ 45. Rxf8! Elegant to the end! 45. ... Rxf8 46. Ke6 Rh8 47. h5 b5 48. d6 1 : 0.