THERE was a bit of drama featuring the top seeds at the closing stages of the 2021 Chinese Men’s National Chess Championship which ended over the weekend. The champion’s trophy eventually went to 2nd seed Yangyi Yu on tiebreak, despite a last round loss to reigning world women’s champion Wenjun Ju.
Top seed Yi Wei, who was beaten in the penultimate round by Yu, settled for the silver while Di Li took the bronze. Yu, Wei, and Li all finished the event with identical seven points apiece. The tie break rules immediately favored Yu since he defeated Wei and Wei has beaten Li.
Meanwhile, the 2021 Chinese Women’s National Chess Championship was won convincingly by 2017–2018 Women’s World Chess Champion Zhongyi Tan.
The final men’s standings: 1-3. Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi, Li Di, 7; 4. Lu Shanglei, 6; 5-10. Xu Yinglun, Liu Yan, Xu Xiangyu, Zhao Jun, Ju Wenjun, Xu Zhihang, 5; 11-12. Bai Jinshi, Xu Yi, 4½.
Lu, Shanglei (2615)-Li, Di (2561) [C24]
Xinghua Jiangsu (10.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 a5 6.a4 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bd6 8.exd5 cxd5 9.Bg5 Be6 10.Na3 Nbd7 11.Nb5 Bb8 12.0-0 0-0 13.Re1 Ra6 14.d4 e4 15.Nd2 h6 16.Bh4 Bf4 17.c4 g5 18.Bg3 Bxd2 19.Qxd2 dxc4 20.Bc2 Nc5 21.f3 Bf5 22.h4 e3 23.Rxe3 Bxc2 24.Qxc2 Nd5 25.Re2 Nd3 26.Qxc4 gxh4 27.Bh2 N5f4 28.Rd2 Rc6 29.Qb3 Qg5 30.Kh1 Re8 31.d5 Nc1 32.Qd1 Nfe2 33.Rd4 f5 34.f4 Ng3+ 35.Bxg3 Qxg3 36.dxc6 Re1+ 37.Qxe1 Qxe1+ 38.Kh2 Qg3+ 39.Kh1 h3 0-1
Yu, Yangyi (2709)-Wei, Yi (2732) [A18]
Xinghua Jiangsu (10.3) 2021
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.fxg7 cxd2+ 7.Bxd2 Bxg7 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qf6 10.0-0-0 Bd7 11.Bg5 Bh6 12.h4 0-0-0 13.Qd2 Bxg5 14.hxg5 Qe7 15.Qe3 e5 16.Bd3 Bg4 17.Be4 Qb4 18.Kb1 Rxd1+ 19.Rxd1 Qxc4 20.Rc1 Qa6 21.Bxc6 bxc6 22.Nxe5 Be6 23.b3 Bd5 24.Qf4 Re8 25.f3 Kb7 26.Nd7 Qd3+ 27.Rc2 Qb5 28.Nc5+ Kb8 29.a4 Re1+ 30.Kb2 Qf1 31.Qf6 Re8 32.Qc3 Ka8 33.Qd2 Qe1 34.Qxe1 Rxe1 35.a5 Kb8 36.Kc3 Kc8 37.Kd3 Kd8 38.Re2 Rd1+ 39.Kc3 Rc1+ 40.Kd4 Ra1 41.a6 Rd1+ 42.Ke5 Ke7 43.Kf5+ Be6+ 44.Nxe6 Rd5+ 45.Kg4 fxe6 46.g3 Kf7 47.f4 Ra5 48.Rh2 Kg7 49.Rh6 1-0
Wei, Yi (2732)-Xu, Zhihang (2506) [A09]
Xinghua Jiangsu (11.4) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 Bg4 4.g3 Bxf3 5.exf3 e5 6.a3 a5 7.b5 Nd7 8.d3 Nc5 9.a4 Nf6 10.Bg2 Bd6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Qc2 Nfd7 13.Nd2 f5 14.Bb2 Qf6 15.Rae1 Qg6 16.f4 exf4 17.Bxd4 fxg3 18.fxg3 f4 19.gxf4 Qxd3 20.Qxd3 Nxd3 21.Bxb7 Rab8 22.Bd5+ Kh8 23.Re3 Nxf4 24.Bc6 Nc5 25.Ne4 Nxe4 26.Rxe4 Nd3 27.Rd1 Nc5 28.Rg4 Rf7 29.Re1 Bf8 30.Bd5 Rd7 31.Bc6 Rf7 32.Re5 Nxa4 33.Rh5 Be7 34.Be4 Rd8 35.Rxh7+ Kg8 36.Bxg7 Rd1+ 37.Kg2 Rd2+ 38.Kh3 1-0
Ju, Wenjun (2560)-Yu, Yangyi (2709) [C55]
Xinghua Jiangsu (11.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.Nc3 d6 6.a4 0-0 7.h3 Be6 8.0-0 Nxe4 9.Nxe4 d5 10.Neg5 dxc4 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.dxc4 Qxd1 13.Rxd1 Bc5 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.fxe3 h6 16.Rd7 Rf7 17.Rxf7 Kxf7 18.Rf1 Ke8 19.Kf2 Ke7 20.Ke2 Rf8 21.Rb1 a5 22.c3 b6 23.Kd3 Nb8 24.Nxe5 Rf2 25.c5 bxc5 26.g4 Nd7 27.Nc6+ Kd6 28.Nxa5 Nb6 29.Nc4+ Kc6 30.a5 Nxc4 31.Kxc4 Re2 32.a6 Kb6 33.Ra1 Ka7 34.Ra5 Rxb2 35.Rxc5 Kb6 36.Re5 Kxa6 37.Rxe6+ Kb7 38.h4 Ra2 39.Kd3 Rf2 40.Rg6 Rf7 41.e4 c6 42.e5 Kb6 43.Ke4 Kc5 44.h5 Kb5 45.Rd6 Kc5 46.Rd8 Re7 47.Rd4 Kb5 48.Kf5 c5 49.Rd1 Rf7+ 50.Ke6 Ra7 51.Kd6 Kc4 52.e6 Ra6+ 53.Kd7 Ra7+ 54.Ke8 Kxc3 55.e7 Ra2 56.Kd7 1-0
Li, Di (2561)-Zhao, Jun (2638) [E15]
Xinghua Jiangsu (11.6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Rd1 Ba6 10.b3 Nbd7 11.Bf4 Rc8 12.Nc3 Nh5 13.Bc1 f5 14.Bb2 Bd6 15.e3 Qe7 16.Ne2 Nhf6 17.Nf4 Ne4 18.Ne5 Bb7 19.Nfd3 Ndf6 20.b4 c5 21.dxc5 bxc5 22.b5 a6 23.a4 Ra8 24.Qe2 Rfc8 25.h3 Qe8 26.Nf4 g5 27.Nfd3 axb5 28.axb5 Be7 29.Rdb1 dxc4 30.Nxc4 Qxb5 31.Qc2 Bd5 32.Nde5 Rcb8 33.Rxa8 Bxa8 34.Ra1 Bd5 35.Ra7 Rb7 36.Ra8+ Kg7 37.Bf1 Qb3 38.Qc1 Rc7 39.Ra6 Qb8 40.Qa1 Qe8 41.g4 Kf8 42.f3 Ng3 43.Bd3 h5 44.Qe1 h4 45.Qc3 Kg8 46.gxf5 exf5 47.Ng4 fxg4 48.Rxf6 Bf8 49.Rg6+ Qxg6 50.Qh8+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sf5/h5/e4/e2/f1/h1 2.S(x)e2#; 1…Sa4/c4/d3+/d1 2.S(x)d3#; 1…Ra1 2.Qxa1#./PN
