The Boy in the Bubble

韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – 王晨 (Wáng Chén)
51st Chinese Chess Championship; 兴化 (Xīnghuà), April 24, 2016
Sicilian Defence B85

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Be2 a6 7. 0-0 Nf6 8. Be3 Be7 9. f4 d6 10. Kh1 0-0 11. Qe1 Bd7 12. Qg3 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bc6 14. Rae1 b5 15. a3 Rae8 16. Bf3 Rd8. Back to where it should have gone in the first place. However, it is all theory, lost time included. 17. Re3 Qb7. After 17. ... g6 18. e5 Black must retreat the Knight, unless to ruin himself: 18. ... dxe5? 19. Bxe5 Qb6 20. Bxc6 Qxc6 21. Qh4 Nd5 22. Qxh7+! 1 : 0 Bernadskiy – Fedoseev, 6th Vasylyshyn Memorial, Lviv 2009. 18. Rfe1 g6 19. Qh3 Rfe8 20. Qh6 Bf8 21. Qg5 Nd7

22. Nd5! Qb8. Clearly not 22. ... exd5?? 23. exd5 and White will recover the piece with overwhelming effects. 23. Nf6+ Nxf6 24. Bxf6 Rc8 25. Bg4! Ba8? The losing move. Black could not afford the luxury to lose time anymore. It appears that 25. ... Qb7! (eyeing the e4-Pawn) would have offered the best counterchances. 26. Rh3! With the devastating threat of Qg5-h4. 26. ... Rc5 27. Qh4 h5. Or 27. ... h6 28. Qxh6! Bxh6 29. Rxh6 and mate in two moves. 28. b4! 1 : 0. White wins heavy material.

韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
Photo: qipai.org.cn

The Cutting Edge

王晨 (Wáng Chén) – 韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
6th Hǎinán Dānzhōu Super GM Chess Tournament; 儋州 (Dānzhōu), July 10, 2015
Sicilian Defence B31

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. 0-0 Bg7 5. c3 Nf6 6. Qe2 0-0 7. h3 Qb6 8. Ba4. Another modus operandi is 8. Na3 d5 9. d3 h6 10. e5 Ne8 11. Be3 d4 12. cxd4 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 cxd4 14. Bxe8 Rxe8 15. Rfc1 Rd8 16. Nc4 Qb5 17. a4 Qb4 18. Ne1 Be6 19. Nc2 Qc5 20. b4 Qc7 21. N2a3 Rac8 22. Re1 ½ : ½ Kuzmin – Timoshchenko, 46th USSR Chess Championship, Tbilisi 1978. 8. ... d5 9. e5 Nd7 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. d3 f6 12. exf6 exf6 13. c4 Ba6 14. Qe6+ Rf7 15. Nc3 Nf8 16. Qe2 dxc4 17. dxc4 Qb4 18. Nd2 f5 19. Qf3 Rc8 20. a3 Qb8 21. Re1 Re8 22. Rxe8 Qxe8 23. Qe3? White is too far behind in development to afford the luxury of grabbing material! 23. ... Re7. “This is a difficult line to play, but Black seems to play it perfectly. After he gets the advantage he lets the White Queen take whatever it wants. White was way too greedy but the finish is impressive”, Marmot PFL said. 24. Qxc5? Most consistent but most disastrous as well. 24. ... Re1+ 25. Kh2 Ne6 26. Qxa7

26. ... Bd4! 27. Qxa6. Or 27. c5 Bd3 and wins. 27. ... Qb8+ 28. g3 Bxf2 0 : 1. For if 29. Nf1 there follows 29. ... Rxf1 30. Bf4 Bxg3+! 31. Kg2 Qxb2+ and mate in three moves.

韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
Photo: sports.sina.com.cn