Second seed Yangyi Yu grabbed the solo leadership of the ongoing 2021 Chinese Men’s National Chess Championship after scoring back-to-back victories in Rounds 7 and 8 of the Category 14 (average Elo: 2593) event. Yu defeated Xiangyu Xu in Round 7 and Yan Liu in Round 8 to overtake erstwhile leader Shanglei Lu who, in contrast, was held twice in the aforementioned rounds and dropped to a share of 2nd to 3rd places with top seed Yi Wei.
Wei, held six times in six outings, finally started winning – beating world women’s champion Wenjun Ju in Round 7 and Di Li in Round 8 to climb up the standings. With three rounds to go in the single round robin classical tournament, the event’s top two seeds appear headed for a title showdown.
Standings after Round 8: 1. Yu Yangyi, 5½; 2-3. Lu Shanglei, Wei Yi, 5; 4-6. Xu Zhihang, Zhao Jun, Li Di, 4½; 7-8. Xu Yinglun, Xu Xiangyu, 3½; 9-12. Xu Yi, Liu Yan, Bai Jinshi, Ju Wenjun, 3.
Wei, Yi (2732)-Ju, Wenjun (2560) [D36]
Xinghua Jiangsu (7.6) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qc2 Nbd7 7.e3 h6 8.Bh4 Be7 9.Bd3 0-0 10.Nge2 b5 11.0-0 Nb6 12.a4 a6 13.Bg3 Bb7 14.axb5 cxb5 15.Nxb5 Rc8 16.Nbc3 Nc4 17.b3 Na5 18.Qb1 Bb4 19.Na2 Be7 20.Nac3 Bb4 21.Na2 Be7 22.Nec3 Re8 23.Bf5 Rc6 24.Na4 Ne4 25.Bxe4 dxe4 26.Nc5 Bxc5 27.dxc5 Rg6 28.Nc3 h5 29.Rd1 Qf6 30.Ne2 Nc6 31.Nf4 Rh6 32.Rd6 Qg5 33.h4 Qxc5 34.Rxh6 gxh6 35.Qd1 Rd8 36.Qxh5 Qxh5 37.Nxh5 f5 38.Rc1 Kh7 39.Rc5 Rf8 40.Bd6 Rf7 41.Ng3 Nb4 42.Rxf5 Rxf5 43.Nxf5 Nd3 44.h5 a5 45.Bc7 Bd5 46.Bxa5 Bxb3 47.Bc7 Bf7 48.Ng3 Bd5 49.Bd6 Bc6 50.Bb8 Bd5 51.Bc7 Bc6 52.Bb6 Bd5 53.Bd4 Bc6 54.Nf5 Bd7 55.Nd6 Bc6 56.g4 Kg8 57.Nf5 Kh7 58.Kg2 Bd7 59.Kg3 Bc6 60.Bg7 Bd7 61.Bf8 1-0
Li, Di (2561)-Wei, Yi (2732) [D43]
Xinghua Jiangsu (8.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 c6 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 b5 7.Qd3 a6 8.e4 c5 9.dxc5 Qxd3 10.Bxd3 Bxc5 11.e5 Nd5 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Ke2 Nc6 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.Kxe3 0-0 16.Rac1 Bb7 17.Rc5 Rae8 18.Rhc1 Nd8 19.Nd4 Rxe5+ 20.Kd2 Rh5 21.h3 Rh4 22.Nf5 Rf4 23.f3 Ne6 24.R5c2 Rd8 25.Ng3 g6 26.Ne2 Rh4 27.b3 Kg7 28.Rf1 f5 29.Re1 Kf6 30.a3 Rd7 31.b4 Rh5 32.Rec1 f4 33.a4 bxa4 34.Ra2 Rg5 35.Rg1 Bc6 36.Bxa6 d4 37.h4 Re5 38.Nc1 Nc7 39.Bc4 Rde7 40.Rd1 Re3 41.Nd3 Bb5 0-1
Zhao, Jun (2638)-Bai, Jinshi (2618) [C01]
Xinghua Jiangsu (8.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4 d5 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.Nc3 Re8 11.Nb5 Bf8 12.Bf4 Na6 13.Ne5 c6 14.Nc3 Nb4 15.Be2 Bf5 16.a3 Na6 17.Bxa6 bxa6 18.Na4 Nd7 19.Nxc6 Qc8 20.Nb4 Bxb4 21.axb4 Bxc2 22.Qg4 Re4 23.Qg3 Rxd4 24.Rac1 Rd3 25.f3 Qc4 26.Kh2 Kh7 27.Nc5 Nxc5 28.bxc5 Qa4 29.c6 Bb3 30.Bb8 Bc4 31.c7 Qd7 32.Qf4 Rb3 33.Rxc4 1-0
Yu, Yangyi (2709)-Liu, Yan (2524) [D11]
Xinghua Jiangsu (8.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Nf3 c6 4.c4 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Qb3 Qb6 7.c5 Qc7 8.Nh4 Bg6 9.Bf4 Qc8 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Bg2 Nbd7 12.0-0 Be7 13.Qc2 b6 14.b4 a5 15.a3 0-0 16.e4 axb4 17.axb4 bxc5 18.bxc5 dxe4 19.Nxe4 Nd5 20.Nd6 Qd8 21.Bxd5 exd5 22.Qb2 Bxd6 23.Bxd6 Re8 24.Qb7 Rxa1 25.Rxa1 Qc8 26.Qxc8 Rxc8 27.f3 Nf8 28.Kf2 Re8 29.f4 Nh7 30.Ra6 Rc8 31.Be7 Nf6 32.Bxf6 gxf6 33.Ke3 Kf8 34.Kd3 Rc7 35.Kc3 Ke7 36.Kb4 Kd7 37.Ka5 Rb7 38.Ra8 Rb5+ 39.Ka6 Rb4 40.Ra7+ Ke6 41.Rc7 Rxd4 42.Kb7 Rc4 43.Kxc6 d4 44.Rc8 Ke7 45.Rc7+ Ke6 46.f5+ gxf5 47.Rd7 Rxc5+ 48.Kxc5 Kxd7 49.Kxd4 Ke6 50.Ke3 Ke5 1-0
Xu, Yi (2527)-Xu, Yinglun (2554) [C11]
Xinghua Jiangsu (8.6) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Ne2 Qb6 9.Qc1 f6 10.c3 Be7 11.h4 0-0 12.h5 h6 13.Rh3 Rf7 14.Kf2 fxe5 15.fxe5 Bg5 16.Kg1 Bxe3+ 17.Qxe3 Qxb2 18.Re1 Ne7 19.Nh4 Nf8 20.Rg3 Kh8 21.Nf4 cxd4 22.cxd4 Bd7 23.Nfg6+ Nfxg6 24.Nxg6+ Kg8 25.Nxe7+ Rxe7 26.Bd3 Kh8 27.Rb1 Qxa2 28.Rxb7 Qa4 29.Rf3 Qd1+ 30.Kf2 Kg8 31.Kg3 Qa4 32.Qf4 Qa5 33.Kh2 Qd8 34.Rb1 Bb5 35.Bg6 Kh8 36.Rb2 Qg8 37.Rbf2 a5 38.Qc1 Rb7 39.g4 Qd8 40.g5 hxg5 41.Qc5 Rbb8 42.Rf7 g4 43.Kg3 Bc4 44.Kxg4 Rc8 45.Qa3 Kg8 46.Qe3 Rc7 47.h6 Rxf7 48.Rxf7 Rb8 49.hxg7 Qb6 50.Qf4 Qb4 51.Kg5 Qa3 52.Kh6 Qh3+ 53.Bh5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kd6 2.Rb7/a7/f7/g7/h7#;1…Red6/c6/b6/a6/e7/e8/f6/g6/h6 2.R(x)e7#; 1…Rc5/b5/a5/d6/d7/d8/xd4 2.R(x)c5#./PN
