Chinese GM Wei Yi, qualified for the Candidates after reaching the 2025 FIDE World Cup final, and the former prodigy is making headlines 10 years after he first emerged with an eye popping opening at age 15 to stun the world.
Two years after Ding Liren lost his World championship crown to D Gukesh, Wei has lined up for the Candidates as the sole Chinese in the 8-player field. While the American stars Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura are slated to be favourites, alongside R Praggnanandha of India, Wei Yi is being talked of as the dark horse.
The Chinese however played very sparsely between 2018 and 2024, when it was reported he completed his studies at the Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management.
The Yancheng, Jiangsu-born GM, is on 2754 ELO ratings, just nine below his peak 2763. But even when he played unfrequently during his University years, he did not drop below 2722.
However he opted to go to college which tends to be the norm in Chinese chess, and described those years in an interview given to a YouTube channel named Underpromoted. “The decision to go to college was important. It had its advantages and disadvantages. First of all I learnt to make friends,” he said. “Earlier my life was only about chess. The people I interacted with were mostly related to chess.”
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It broadened his horizons. “In college I met many more impressive people, in finance, in math,. From these people you can learn a lot. And they make you feel the world is very big, not just about chess. You realise there are many accomplished people in the world and perhaps you are not so special,” Yi said.
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Also there was his technical College curriculum, but college offered him one of the best memories. “Also I realised time is precious. At the beginning I wasn’t interested. Some classes were extremely boring. Even though I didn’t sleep like some of my classmates did. Gradually I realised we should use time well,” he told the Reddit interview in December of 2024.
It are into dedicated chess years, but the Chinese insisted it was what he chose. “It had a negative impact on my chess. As a professional player you need to train everyday in order to maintain your skill level. But there are academic responsibilities.”
“Also in 2020 pandemic happened. Most tournaments went offline. So I didn’t lose out much because there were no tournaments to play in. So you focus on studies. In life you have to make decisions. Can’t get best of both worlds.”
College liberated him from ‘Zunjing guantian’, a term that literally means to look at sky from bottom of the well.
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The Chinese who started chess at 7 in 2006, after playing for 2 years, was packed off to another city Nantong because his parents thought he needed a stronger coach. “Parents had to return to work, so I went to live at my coach’s place. Leaving home makes you lonely. I called home every night. But it made me independent, strengthened my endurance,” he told Underpromoted.
The assurance that he was special came from the Li Chengzi Cup, considered a “College entrance cup” where he finished 6th in his first year. All top names have played in this and a major influence was Ding Liren who won most times for the competition for those from age 6 to 20.
When he played China’s top domestic meet, his coach would field him on Board 1 which had top Chinese names Wang Yue Wang Hao. “They would be very excited because they thought I was easy to beat,” he recalled to Reddit. He lost most save his last match where he beat Ni Hua, a top player. “But I kept wondering if my opponent had spent earlier night playing video games or something. That doubt stayed,” he recalls.
In 2010, his parents would put together a small prize kitty to prepare the National team in a warmup tournament for the Guangzhou Asian Games, where he saw the top names from up close.
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In 2015, Wei Yi came into global focus after playing a chess social media declared “immortal” game against Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon before winning a Super event in 2017.
Speaking on Powerplaychess YouTube, the host recalled Wei Yi’s famous “sacrificial attacks” for which he is famous. “These are romantic games with old fashioned openings. At the World Cup (where he finished Runnersup in Chennai), he had those sacrificial attacks. But at times he showed no ambition, just defended. But he has unusual attacking ideas. And can play risk averse. His game is difficult to judge,” the host said. His only win came off a quirky line.
He however goes in with a win at Tata Steel Chess after a tiebreak and a reputation to leave Magnus Carlsen irritated by straight draws.
In his own brutal, biting manner, Carlsen had said, “Wei Yi is really good. But I don’t think he is capable of winning enough games to win the Candidates.”
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But the man who saw merit in making friends at college and seeing a wider world, might just prove the dark horse at the Candidates
