The Game of the Century
Hello chess lovers! In today's post we are going to see a special game played by Wei Yi, when he was only 16 years old against Bruzon Batista.
This match is called by many as 'The Game of the Century'. I encourage you to try and find the moves yourself. Enjoy the masterpiece!
So, we can see that a typical Sicillian has ensued. Wei Yi began to open files and diagonals courtesy a few mistakes made by Bruzon.
17...g6? was really a move I did not understand. I remember watching this game live, and it seemed like clear helping chess.
Now what to do? How to proceed? Black's king is quite exposed but at the same time he has a number of defenders around, especially the f6 knight.
Spoiler coming up
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21.Nd5! Trying to remove the f6 knight which is a great defender of the king. Also, when the exchange happens, White's light squared bishop will say thank you!
21...Nxd5?! Although this is the decisive mistake, it is hard to criticize such a move.. the other option was also leading to quite bad position.
Ok, time for you to put your thinking caps on again! Continuation?
Spoiler coming up
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22.Rxf7!! Bombshell! It is now clear why the rook on f8 was doing such an important job. Black's king is going for a walk..
How did Wei Yi decide on such a responsible and risky move? Of course, it looks spectacular but how did he decide? Did he calculate lines all the way till the end?
No!
What he saw was that he had atleast a draw in every line! And it is practically very difficult to defend with Black.
How did Wei Yi decide on such a responsible and risky move? Of course, it looks spectacular but how did he decide? Did he calculate lines all the way till the end?
No!
What he saw was that he had atleast a draw in every line! And it is practically very difficult to defend with Black.
22....Kxf7, 23.Qh7-Ke6, 24.exd5-Kxd5.
It seems like Black's king is running away! Can you stop him?
Spoiler coming up
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25.Be4!! Dragging the king further. Wei Yi plays with a lot of energy and Black doesnt have a moment of rest!
25...Kxe4.
Once again! It is your turn!
Spoiler coming up
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26.Qf7!? The human solution, cutting off the king and threatening mate in 1.
Even stronger was 26.c4!! The brilliant move found by engines, which leads to mate in 9. Give yourself 9 pats on the back if you found this!
26...Bf6, 27.Bd2-Kd4, 28.Be3-Ke4.
Wei Yi has repeated once. What to do now? Is draw the maximum White can achieve!?
Spoiler coming up
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29.Qb3! White keeps on giving simple mate threats and that is enough!
29...Kf5, 30.Rf1-Kg4.
Continuation?
Spoiler coming up
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31.Qd3! Another quiet move. It is simply amazing how White is a rook and bishop down and plays moves like 26.Qf7!, 29.Qb3!, 31.Qd3!
31...Bxg2, 32.Kxg2-Qa8, 33.Kg1-Bg5, 34.Qe2-Kh4, 35.Bf2-Kh3.
The Black king has travelled a lot. Now to take it to the burial ground!
Spoiler coming up
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36.Be1! Mate is unstoppable. Beautiful game by Wei Yi, demonstrating the power of quiet moves. They have the right to be used!
Check out the full game with annotations:
It does not always happen in studies!!
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