Wang Yue (born March 31, 1987 in Taiyuan, Shanxi is China's highest ever rated chess grandmaster with a peak Elo rating of 2739.
Biography
Wang Yue was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, where he learned to play chess at the age of four. During summer, he would watch people play Xiangqi in the streets every day after dinner. When he was 5, with the support of his parents he started to receive chess training at school and made rapid progress. When he was 9 he joined the National Junior Team and won the Li Chengzhi National Children's Cup. At 12, he joined the National Team and at 15 he joined Tianjin City Club. He is a Communication Studies student at the College of Liberal Arts of Nankai University in Tianjin. He also plays for his university club chess team.
Since 2004, he has been a member of China's Olympiad chess team, which also includes Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi, Wang Hao and Li Chao.
In 2005, he became the youngest National men's Champion of China. Also, in 2005 he won both the National Youth Championship and the National Collegiate Championship.
Wang has participated in several national team summit matches, including against the USA (2002), Russia (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008), France (2006) and the UK (2007).
In 2007, he achieved his goal of crossing 2700 Elo (China's first) and presently is aiming for 2750, as stated in an interview with Susan Polgar at the 2008 Olympiad.
Career
Breakthroughs
Landmark achievements include:
Currently ranked 2nd in Asia after World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India.
In 2004, became China's 17th Grandmaster at the age of 17.
On October 1, 2007, became the first ever Chinese player and third Asian player to cross the 2700 Elo rating mark.
On October 1, 2008, became the World Number 11, the highest ever ranking a Chinese player has achieved, breaking the previous record of 17th by Ye Jiangchuan set in 2000. He is currently ranked 13 on the FIDE January 09-list, and has a Live ranking of 14.
Currently ranked 4th in the ongoing FIDE Grand Prix with 353.33 points.
From March to December 2008, Wang Yue went 85 consecutive games without a loss, one of the longest streaks on record. His unbeaten run began in the second round of the Reykjavík Open and ended during round 1 of the third FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009 tournament. (See List of tournaments and List of world records in chess.)
Master titles
In 2000, gained the FM title aged 13
In 2003, gained the IM title aged 16
In 2004, gained the GM title aged 17
Rating
Wang entered the FIDE Top 20 Juniors list as #19 on April 2005 with a rating of 2576. He was in the top 10 from July 2006, and the top 5 from January 2007. He reached a peak ranking of #3 during the July-October 2007 rating periods.
He entered the FIDE Top 100 Players list as #84 on July 2006 with a rating of 2626 and has been in the top 100 since.
He broke into the Top 25 as #22 with a then highest rating of 2703 on October 2007, which was the first time a Chinese chess player had passed the 2700 mark since the introduction of the FIDE ratings system in 1970.
At January 2009, Wang's Elo rating is 2739, making him China's #1 and #13 on the FIDE world rating list.
For 2005, he played 53 classical games (+15,-4,=34, 2562 average opponent) with a 2636 performance placing 79th in the world.
For 2006, he played 95 classical games (+28,-11,=56, 2593 av op) with a 2656 performance placing 50th.
For 2007, he played 68 classical games (+24,-4,=40, 2608 av op) with a 2713 performance placing 20th.
For 2008, he played 101 classical games (+32,-3,=66, 2645 av op) having a 2748 performance placing 8th.
1999–2006: Junior player
In 1999, Wang won the under-12 category of the World Youth Chess Championship in Oropesa del Mar, Spain.
In 2000, he came second in the U-14 category World Youth Ch, which was also held in Oropesa del Mar. That year, in Artek, Ukraine, and again in 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he competed for the China national chess team at the World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiads. In 2000, the team came 9th, with Wang scoring 6.0/9 (+4,=4,-1) with a 2430 performance. The 2002 team won gold and he also achieved on first board an individual gold medal for his stunning result of 8.5/10 (+7,=3,-0) with a 2657 performance. He was supported by team-mate Zhao Jun who had an 80% score on board 2.
In July–August 2002, at the Second China–USA Match in Shanghai, Wang scored 2.5/4 (+1,=3,-0) with a performance of 2526. He played against Hikaru Nakamura once in the last round which was a draw, and all the other first three games were against Vinay Bhat. China won 20½ - 19½ overall.
In April 2004, Wang scored the highest with 9.0/11 at the Chinese Men's Team Championships in Jinan, and in December 2005, he became the National Chess Champion of China with a score of 12.5/18 in Beijing. In August of that year, at the 2nd China-Russia Match in Moscow, Wang scored 3.0/6 (+1, =4, -1) with a 2670 performance. China won the match 37.5 - 34.5.
Continuing, from October 14–31, when Wang became a FIDE master, he competed in his debut Olympiad in Calvià, Majorca scoring 8.0/12 (+5,=6,-1) on the first reserve board with a 2621 performance. The team finished in 24th place and Wang finished on 16th in the individual board standings. At this event he achieved his last GM norm and became China's then youngest grandmaster.
December 18–23 saw him at the Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament, with games starting at 12:00 noon in Paris, 14:00 in St. Petersburg. 15:00 in Yerevan and 19:00 in Beijing. Each country faced each of the other three countries two times for a total of six rounds. Fischer time control will be used (1 hour 30 minutes plus 15 minutes added at move 40; 30 second increments are added after every move). The event took place on ICC. China won the Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament. Their final round match against Russia came down to the wire. The Russians led 2-1 but Wang Yue beat Vadim Zvjaginsev to tie the match and win the event for the Chinese. Final Scores: China 14.0 - France 13.0 - Russia 13.0 - Armenia 8.0. China players: (average rating: 2590) GM Bu Xiangzhi 2615 GM Ni Hua 2611 GM Zhang Zhong 2596 GM Wang Yue 2536
In February 2005, he scored 5.5/9 at the Aeroflot Open. In April, he scored 6.0/9 at the Dubai Open. It was won by 16 year old Wang Hao. In July, he came third on tiebreak with 6.5/11 (+3 -1 =7) at the 2nd Sanjin International Hotel GM Cup in his hometown Taiyuan. Pentala Harikrishna won with 8.5/11 a point clear of Alexander Motylev. In October, he also came third with 6.5/9 at the 5th Asian Individual Championship in Hyderabad, India. In November, he came fifth with 8.5/13 at the World Junior Chess Championship in Istanbul, and reached the second round of the FIDE World Cup having beaten and lost to Karen Asrian and Ilia Smirin, respectively.
2006
In February, he scored 4.5/9 at the Aeroflot Open. In June at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, the national team, seeded 12, came second winning silver. Wang, on board four, went undefeated scoring 10.0/12 points (8 wins and 4 draws) and received an individual gold medal for this board four result, as well as an individual silver medal for his rating performance of 2837 (the second highest of all players after Vladimir Kramnik of Russia).
In July 10–22 at the Taiyuan Scheveningen Event, the Chinese team won 36.5-35.5 against the foreign side with Wang scoring 6.5/12. From 28 July to 7 August, at the 4th Marx György Memorial (Category 15 av 2622 of July'06 ratings) in Paks, Hungary, Wang scored 5.0/10 (+1, =8, -1) and came joint third with Zoltan Almasi. The tournament was won by Pentala Harikrishna. From 10–20 August, at the 3rd Russia-China match in Erguna, Wang scored 5½/10 (+3, =5, -2) with a 2711 performance. China won the match 51½ - 48½.
In September 4–9 at the Trophée MULTICOMS China-France Match, he scored 4.0/6 with a performance rating of 2712, the highest in the competition. On 7 September, at the 7th Lausanne Young Masters, he came second after having lost to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final rapidplay playoff.[10] In October, he came sixth with 8.5/13 at the World Junior Championship in Yerevan.
At the Asian Games in Doha in December, the national team won silver with Wang on board two scoring 6.0/9 points (+4, =4, -1) with a 2647 performance.
2007
In February, he came in joint second with 6.5/9 at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. In March, he won both the Calvi Open (6.0/7) in France and the Cappelle la Grande tournament - which hosted 87 GMs, 81 IMs and 465 FIDE rated players - on tie-break, ahead of five other players with 7.0/9 points and a performance rating of 2784.
In April, he won the Philippines International Open Chess Championship in Subic Bay Freeport Zone with 7.0/9 points. In July 2007, he came second with 5.0/8 at the 4th Sanjin Hotel Cup in Taiyuan. In July at the 4th Taiyuan Scheveningen Event, the Chinese team lost 17-15 against the foreign side; Vadim Zvjaginsev finished 5.5/8 to top the score in the event, Wang Yue made 5.0/8 to top the score for the Chinese team. In 18–31 August at the 4th China-Russia Match in Nizhniy Novgorod, Wang scored 5.5/10 (+2,=7,-1) with a 2714 performance. China won the match overall 52.5-47.5.[11] In 3–9 September at the UK–China Match in Liverpool, Wang scored 4.0/6 (+2,=4,-0) with a 2722 performance. China won the match 28 - 20.
At the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, in November, Wang defeated Aleksei Pridorozhni (1.5-0.5), Sergei Tiviakov (2.5-1.5) and his compatriot Bu Xiangzhi (1.5-0.5), only to be eliminated by Ivan Cheparinov (0.5-1.5) in the fourth round. In December, Wang came second on tiebreak at the Category 17 XVII Ciudad de Pamplona (Magistral A) tournament in Spain having scored 4.0/7 (TPR 2695). It was won by Francisco Vallejo Pons.
2008
Reykjavík Open, March 2008In January, at the 15th Asian Team Chess Championship in Visakhapatnam, the national team won gold with Wang scoring on board one 4.5/7 points (+3, =3, -1) with a 2534 performance. In February, he scored 7.0/10 (+4,=6,-0) at the Gibraltar Chess Festival Open finishing 20th with a 2653 performance. In March, Wang finished shared first at the Reykjavík Open, together with compatriot Wang Hao (who won on tiebreak) and Hannes Stefansson.
In his super-tournament debut in April–May 2008 at the 1st FIDE Grand Prix in Baku, he came joint first place with Vugar Gashimov and Magnus Carlsen, scoring 8.0/13 (+3,=10,-0) with a performance rating of 2806. Wang called it a "nightmare start" when his planned flight departure from Beijing on the 18th was delayed because of bad weather and did not arrive in Azerbaijan until the early morning of the 21st, thereby missing the opening ceremony as well as having to face the top seed (Magnus Carlsen) with black later on the same day.
In July-August 2008, at the 2nd FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi, he came joint third with Gata Kamsky with 7.5/13 (+2, =11, -0; elo performance 2765) behind winner Levon Aronian and second placed Teimour Radjabov. He was featured on the cover of New in Chess magazine's July 2008 issue. In August 20–30, 2008 in Amsterdam, Wang won the NH Chess Tournament—"Rising Stars" (Wang, Cheparinov, Caruana, L'Ami, Stellwagen) vs. "Experience" (Agdestein, Bareev, Ljubojevic, Korchnoi, Jussupow)—with 8.5/10 points (+7, =3, -0; rating performance 2892) remaining undefeated. As the Rising Star winner of the tournament he won an invitation to the March 2009 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Nice, and immediately after having won all of his first six games, he was invited by Jeroen van den Berg to Group A of the January 2009 Corus Chess Tournament.
In September 2008, he competed at the 5th Russia-China Match in Ningbo where he scored 3.0/5 (+1,=4,-0) with a performance rating of 2767 for the men's team (with Li Chao, Wang Hao, Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi). China won the match 26-24. He played at the 1st World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, China during October 3-8, 2008. Also that month, in Halkidiki, Greece, he played for Economist SGSEU-1 Saratov at the 24th European Club Cup and scored 3.0/5 (+1,=4,-0).
In November 2008, he played on board one for the Chinese Open team at the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany (6.5/10 (+3,=7-0) and performance rating 2773). The team came 7th overall. In December 13-29 2008, at the 3rd FIDE Grand Prix in Elista, Russia - moved from Dohar, Qatar - he came joint fifth-ninth with 6.5/12 (+2 =9 -2).
2009
As of April 2009, he is still competing in the FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009, which is part of the current World Chess Championship cycle. Wang qualified by being one of the four FIDE president nominees, along with Peter Svidler, Ivan Cheparinov, Etienne Bacrot.
On 16 January - 1 February, Wang in his debut at the event, became the second Chinese player to compete at the Group A Corus after Zhang Zhong in 2004, in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. He came joint 8th with 6.0/13 (+2=8-3) and a 2685 performance in the Category 19 (average 2716) event. All of his decisive games were with the white pieces; He lost to Ivanchuk, Adams and Radjabov, and had wins against Morozevich and Carlsen.
At the 26th Linares chess tournament (February 18 – March 8) Wang Yue made his debut at the eight-player event and became the first ever Chinese player to participate. He was accompanied by IM Li Wenliang. The event was visited by Tian Hongwei, the Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Chess Association, Chinese delegate to FIDE and director of the Pearl Spring chess tournament. Wang Yue finished with +1=11-2 in joint 5th to 7th place on 6½ points with Radjabov and Aronian, 5th on performance rating (2729), and sixth overall on tiebreak. He had his two losses to Grischuk and Anand, and a win over Carlsen.
Playing style
Described as a highly technical, consistent and solid player he has a preference for the endgame where he seeks to slowly grind down his opponents with a slight advantage. In February 2009 after Corus finished, Teimour Radjabov was quoted in an interview saying, "[Wang Yue] does not allow his opponents to develop counterplay and he exerts "strangulation" style very effectively." Wang has said his childhood idol was José Raúl Capablanca, and once stated that Kramnik has had an influence on his style of play, having been impressed as a 13 year old boy with Kramnik's victory over Kasparov in the London 2001 WCC match.
