The 2020 Chinese Championships ended just before the New Year in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province, with a victory on tiebreaks for second seed GM Yangyi Yu (2709). The 27-year old Yu finished in a tie for first to third places with top seed GM Yi Wei (2732) and fifth seed GM Shanglei Lu (2615) after all three scored identical eight points.
The event was a Category 11 (average Elo: 2507), 12-player, single round robin classical chess competition that featured Wei, Yu, Lu and GMs Jun Zhao (2638), Jinshi Bai (2618), Yang Wen (2594), Xiangyu Xu (2573), Wenjun Ju (2560), Yinglun Xu (2554), IM Yi Lin (2408) and untitled players Renjie Huang (2422) and Rui Zhang (1658). Top Chinese players Liren Ding (2791), Hao Wang (2763), Xiangzhi Bu (2705), Chao Li (2683), Yue Wang (2669), Hua Ni (2667) and Yifan Hou (2658) were missing from the roster.
The category ranking of the event would have been higher were it not for the inclusion of the 1658-rated Zhang, who was reported to have been chosen by tournament sponsors to join the event. Unfortunately, the 17-year-old Zhang was completely out of his league in the event, scoring only ½ point in 11 games.
The final standings: 1-3. Yu, Lu, Wei, 8; 4. Ju, 6; 5-8. Yinglun Xu, Zhao, Bai, Xiangyu Xu, 5½; 9. Lin, 5; 10. Huang, 4½; 11. Wen, 4; 12. Zhang Rui, ½.
Lu, Shanglei (2615)-Bai, Jinshi (2618) [C24]
Xinghua (5.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 a5 6.a4 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bd6 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 0-0 10.Bg5 f6 11.Bh4 Kh8 12.Re1 Bg4 13.d4 exd4 14.Qxd4 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Na6 16.Nd2 Bc5 17.Qc4 Nxc3 18.bxc3 Qxd2 19.Rad1 Qh6 20.Bg3 f5 21.Re6 Qh5 22.Be5 Qg5+ 23.Kh1 Bxf2 24.Qf1 Bc5 25.f4 Qh4 26.Rd3 Qh5 27.Rh3 Qf7 28.Reh6 1-0
Ju, Wenjun (2560)-Wen, Yang (2594) [D45]
Xinghua (6.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 b6 7.Be2 Bb7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Rd1 0-0 10.e4 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.Qxe4 Qc7 13.Bd3 g6 14.Qh4 Rfe8 15.Ng5 Nf6 16.c5 bxc5 17.dxc5 Bxc5 18.Bf4 e5 19.Be3 Bxe3 20.fxe3 Qb6 21.Bc4 Qxe3+ 22.Kh1 Kg7 23.Rf1 Qd4 24.Ne4 Qxe4 25.Qxf6+ Kh6 26.Bxf7 Rf8 27.Rae1 Qg4 28.Re3 c5 29.Rg3 Qh5 30.Kg1 Bc8 31.Rff3 e4 32.Rh3 Bxh3 33.Rxh3 Qxh3 34.gxh3 Rad8 35.Qe7 Rd1+ 36.Kf2 Rfd8 37.Bc4 R8d2+ 38.Ke3 1-0
Zhao, Jun (2638)-Bai, Jinshi (2618) [D16]
Xinghua (7.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.e3 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.exd4 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qe2 Nc6 11.Rd1 Nb4 12.Ne5 Bd7 13.Bf4 Bc6 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.a5 Nbd5 16.Be5 Bb4 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.Ba6 Bd6 19.Bb7 Rb8 20.a6 Ne4 21.Rac1 Re8 22.Rd3 Qb6 23.Qc2 f6 24.Rb3 Qa5 25.Bxd6 Nxd6 26.Qc5 Nxb7 27.axb7 Qxc5 28.dxc5 Re7 29.c6 Rc7 30.g3 d4 31.Ra3 Kf7 32.Rxa7 d3 33.Ra8 1-0
Yu, Yangyi (2709)-Wei, Yi (2732) [D85]
Xinghua (9.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.h3 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nc6 11.Be3 Qa5+ 12.Bd2 Qa3 13.d5 Ne5 14.Rb1 Nxf3+ 15.Bxf3 f5 16.e5 Bxe5 17.0-0 Qd6 18.Re1 a5 19.Re2 b6 20.Qe1 Bf6 21.Qc1 Bb7 22.Bf4 Qd7 23.Rxb6 Rac8 24.Qe1 Rf7 25.Qxa5 g5 26.Qa7 Bc6 27.Qxd7 Bxd7 28.Rb7 gxf4 29.Rxd7 Rff8 30.a4 Rc1+ 31.Kh2 Kh8 32.a5 Ra1 33.Ra7 Rg8 34.Rd2 Rf1 35.Rd1 Rxf2 36.a6 Ra2 37.d6 exd6 38.Rf7 Be5 39.a7 h6 40.Kh1 Ra4 41.Rb7 Bf6 42.Rxd6 1-0
Wei, Yi (2732)-Wen, Yang (2594) [C60]
Xinghua (10.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.c3 a6 6.Bc4 b5 7.Bb3 Bg7 8.cxd4 Nge7 9.d5 Na5 10.Bd2 Nxb3 11.axb3 d6 12.Bc3 f6 13.0-0 0-0 14.Na3 Qe8 15.Re1 Bd7 16.Nc2 Qf7 17.Qd2 Rfd8 18.Ba5 Rdc8 19.Nb4 c5 20.dxc6 Nxc6 21.Nd5 Nxa5 22.Qxa5 Rcb8 23.Rec1 f5 24.Ng5 Qf8 25.Qc7 Qd8 26.Qxd6 Qxg5 27.Qxd7 fxe4 28.Rc7 Qe5 29.Ne7+ Kh8 30.Nc8 h5 31.Rd1 e3 32.fxe3 Qxe3+ 33.Kh1 Qe5 34.Ne7 Rb6 35.Rc6 Qxe7 36.Rxb6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxc6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bd3/b7 2.S(x)d3#; 1…Sd5 2.Sxd5#; 1…Rxe6/g6/f5 2.R(x)f5#; 1…Sd6/f2 2.Qf3#; 1…Sg5 2.Qc7#./PN
