A match in Wei’s hometown
The Yanwu Cup was held in Yancheng, China on 1-6 July, and featured a high-profile encounter between Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi and Armenian-born grandmaster Levon Aronian, now representing the United States.
The match was hosted in Wei Yi’s home city of Yancheng, located in Jiangsu province on China’s eastern coast. Known as “Salt City” due to its historic sea salt production dating back to the Han dynasty, Yancheng today remains a major regional centre and is the largest jurisdictional city in Jiangsu province.
The match format included four classical games and four rapid games, with the classical games weighted double in the overall score. Time controls for the classical section were 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment per move throughout. The rapid games were played with a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment.
In the event of a tie after all eight games, a tiebreak would have followed, consisting of blitz games and, if needed, a final Armageddon game.
The first two classical games ended in draws, maintaining a level score. In the third game, however, Wei broke through, securing a win and taking a 4–2 lead due to the double-weighted scoring of classical victories. The fourth and final classical game was again drawn, bringing the score to 5–3 in favour of Wei before the rapid portion of the match.
Wei went on to win the first two rapid games, extending his lead to an unassailable 7–3, thereby clinching the match with two games to spare. As a result, the final two rapid games were not played.
Wei 1-0 Aronian, rapid game #2
Analysis by André Schulz
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Wei Yi’s performance was not only decisive in the match but also had a notable impact on his rating standings:
- The Chinese grandmaster gained 4.6 Elo points in classical chess, consolidating his position as number 9 in the world.
- In rapid chess, he gained 4.0 points, rising to 5th place in the live rapid ratings.
