Chess (#1157)

The sixth Nongxin Cup in Danzhou was a pretty strong 10-player round robin. There are seven Chinese players in the Top 50 and five of them played.

The average Elo was 2675. The "outsiders", Lázaro Bruzón and Krishnan Sasikiran were no pushovers.

Wang Yue won with an terrific 7 points from 9 games, a performance at Elo 2887 level. He was followed by Ni Hua (6) , Ding Liren (5.5) and Wei Yi (5). The tournament will be remembered for a game played by Wei Yi. The 16-year-old sacrificed lots of material to start a king hunt This is, somewhat hyperbolically and a little prematurely, being called the "Game of the Century". It's outstanding but the century is just 15 years old.

One inevitable comparison is with a 1956 game played by the 13-year-old Bobby Fischer against IM Donald Byrne, the younger of the Byrne brothers. There are some similarities in the games. Both were tactical king hunts.

But in 1956, Fischer was untitled and unknown outside New York (The Byrnes knew him well). Within two years, he was in the Candidates. So this was the first blast of the trumpet. Donald was a strong amateur, a professor at Penn State University. (GM Robert Byrne, a Prof at Indiana State, was stronger). Fischer later played higher-quality games against stronger opposition (including a stunner against Robert). The late world champion didn't include the 1956 effort in his My 60 Memorable Games.

In contrast, GM Wei Yi is world #29, and the youngest player to cross 2700. Bruzón is a very strong GM. Beating him in this fashion is a bigger deal.

The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Wei,Yi Vs Black: Bruzón, Danzhou 2015) is where the fireworks starts. White had taken zero time until move 20 when he thought for 32 minutes. It's move 22. White could recapture ed5, (his Kt has been captured).

Instead 22.Rxf7!! Kxf7 23.Qh7+ Ke6 forced since 23...Kf8 24.Bh6# and 23...Kf6 24.exd5 e4 25.Rf1+ Ke5 26.Qxg6 exd3 27.Qf5#

Play continues 24.exd5+ Kxd5 25.Be4+!! Kxe4 Forced since 25...Ke6 26.Qxg6+ Bf6 27.Qf5+ Ke7 28.Qh7+ Ke6 29.Bf5+ Kd5 30.Bxd7 is easy. 26.Qf7!? This wins but the engines see 26.c4!! bxc4 27.Qxg6+ Kd5 28.Qf7+ Kc6 29.Qxc4# Or 26. c4 Kd3 27. Qxg6+ Be4 28 Rd1+ Kxe3 29. Qg3 Ke2 30. Qe1#

Black defended 26...Bf6 27.Bd2+ Kd4 28.Be3+ Ke4 29.Qb3!! Kf5 30.Rf1+ Kg4 31.Qd3!! Now 31...Rg7 32.Qe2+ Kh4 33.h3 Qd7 34.Kh2 wins so black returns material with 31...Bxg2+ 32.Kxg2 Qa8+ 33.Kg1 Bg5 34.Qe2+ Kh4 35.Bf2+ Kh3 36.Be1! (1-0). Threats like Qd3 and R3 cannot be stopped - for example, 36.--e4 37. Qg2# or Bf4 37.Qd3+ Kg4 38.Qxg6+ Bg5 39.h3+ Kxh3 40.Qf5#. The quiet moves are truly extraordinary.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player