Wang Yue ( zh, c=王玥, p=Wáng Yuè; born 31 March 1987) is a Chinese

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player. In 2004, he became China's 18th grandmaster at the age of 17. He is China's first player ever to break into the top 10 of the

FIDE world rankings The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" and rankings of countries according to the average r ...

and was the highest-ever rated Chinese player, with a peak rating of 2756, until August 2015, when this record was broken by Ding Liren. In October 2007, Wang became the first Chinese player and third Asian player to cross the 2700

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

mark. In October 2008, he became the world No. 11, the highest-ranking a Chinese player had ever achieved, surpassing the previous record of 17th by Ye Jiangchuan set in 2000. In January 2010, he became the first Chinese world top-ten player with a world ranking of 9. His highest world ranking to date is No. 8 in the May 2010 rating list with a rating of 2752. In the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, he was a last round victory over

Teimour Radjabov Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; , ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster in March 2001 at age 14, ...

away from joining Levon Aronian as an automatic qualifier for the

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...

of the World Chess Championship 2012 cycle; however, Radjabov secured a draw which allowed him to win the final qualifying position. In 2008, Wang was a

Communication Studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

student at the College of Liberal Arts of

Nankai University Nankai University is a public university in Tianjin, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Nankai University was establ ...

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

. He also played for his university club chess team.

Early life

Wang was born in

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

, where he learned to play

at the age of four. He would during summer every day after dinner watch people play

xiangqi Xiangqi (; ), commonly known as Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. Xiangqi is in the same family of games as shogi, janggi, chess, Western ches ...

in the streets. 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.

Career

Wang has participated in several national team summit matches, including against the United States (2002), Russia (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009), France (2006) and the UK (2007).

1999–2005: Junior player

In 1999, Wang won the under-12 category of the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...

in Oropesa del Mar, Spain. In 2000, he came second in the U-14 category World Youth Championship, which was also held in Oropesa del Mar, to Alexander Areshchenko. 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 6/9 (+4−1=4) 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 8½/10 (+7−0=3) with a 2657 performance. He was supported by teammate Zhao Jun who had an 80% score on board 2. In July–August 2002, at the Second China–USA Match in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, Wang scored 2½/4 (+1−0=3) with a performance of 2526. He played

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraVinay Bhat. China won 20½–19½ overall. In April 2004, Wang scored the highest with 9/11 at the Chinese Men's Team Championships in

Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...

. In August of that year, at the 2nd China–Russia Match in Moscow, Wang scored 3/6 (+1−1=4) with a 2670 performance. China won the match 37½–34½. Continuing, from October 14–31, when Wang became a FIDE master, he competed in his debut Olympiad in Calvià,

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

scoring 8/12 (+5−1=6) 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 Tigran Vardani Petrosian (; ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster and the ninth World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing s ...

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 beat Vadim Zvjaginsev to tie the match and win the event for the Chinese. Final Scores: China 14–France 13–Russia 13–Armenia 8. China players: (average rating: 2590) GM Bu Xiangzhi 2615 GM Ni Hua 2611 GM Zhang Zhong 2596 GM Wang Yue 2536 In February 2005, Wang scored 5½/9 at the Aeroflot Open. In April, he scored 6/9 at the Dubai Open. It was won by 16-year-old Wang Hao. In July, he came third on tiebreak with 6½/11 (+3−1=7) at the 2nd Sanjin International Hotel GM Cup in his hometown

. Pendyala Harikrishna won with 8½/11 a point clear of Alexander Motylev. In October, he also came third with 6½/9 at the 5th Asian Individual Championship in

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. In November, he came fifth with 8½/13 at the

World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, and reached the second round of the FIDE World Cup having beaten and lost to Karen Asrian and Ilya Smirin, respectively. In December 2005, he became the youngest National men's Champion of China, with a score of 12½/18 in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Also, in 2005 he won both the National Youth Championship and the National Collegiate Championship.

2006: Becomes a 2600 Elo player

In February, Wang scored 4½/9 at the Aeroflot Open. In June at the

37th Chess Olympiad The 37th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, the national team, seeded 12, came second winning silver. Wang, on board four, went undefeated scoring 10/12 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 Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

of Russia). On July 10–22 at the

Scheveningen Scheveningen () is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict () of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular ...

Event, the Chinese team won 36½–35½ against the foreign side with Wang scoring 6½/12. From 28 July to 7 August, at the 4th Marx György Memorial (Category 15 av 2622 of July'06 ratings) in

Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna (county), Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian Paks Nuclear Pow ...

, Hungary, Wang scored 5/10 (+1−1=8) and came joint third with Zoltán Almási. The tournament was won by Pendyala Harikrishna. From 10–20 August, at the 3rd Russia–China match in Erguna, Wang scored 5½/10 (+3−2=5) with a 2711 performance. China won the match 51½–48½. On September 4–9 at the Trophée MULTICOMS China–France Match, he scored 4/6 with a performance rating of 2712, the highest in the competition. On 7 September, at the 7th

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Young Masters, he came second after having lost to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final rapidplay playoff. In October, he came sixth with 8½/13 at the World Junior Championship in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. At the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

in December, the national team won silver, with Wang on board two scoring 6/9 points (+4−1=4) with a 2647 performance.

2007: Becomes a 2700 player

In February, Wang came in joint second with 6½/9 at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. In March, he won both the Calvi Open (6/7) 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 7/9 points and a performance rating of 2784, achieving his goal of crossing 2700 Elo rating (China's first). In April, he won the Philippines International Open Chess Championship in

Subic Bay Freeport Zone The Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone, often shortened as Subic Bay or Subic, is a special economic zone and List of free ports, freeport area covering portions of the city of Olongapo and the town of Subic, Zambales, Subic in Zambales, ...

with 7/9 points. In July 2007, he came second with 5/8 at the 4th Sanjin Hotel Cup in Taiyuan. In July at the 4th

Event, the Chinese team lost 17–15 against the foreign side; Vadim Zvjaginsev finished 5½/8 to top the score in the event, Wang made 5/8 to top the score for the Chinese team. In 18–31 August at the 4th China–Russia Match in

Nizhniy Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

, Wang scored 5½/10 (+2−1=7) with a 2714 performance. China won the match overall 52½–47½. In 3–9 September at the UK–China Match in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Wang scored 4/6 (+2−0=4) with a 2722 performance. China won the match 28–20. At the FIDE World Cup in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

, in November, Wang defeated Aleksei Pridorozhni (1½–½), Sergei Tiviakov (2½–1½) and his compatriot Bu Xiangzhi (1½–½), only to be eliminated by Ivan Cheparinov (½–1½) 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 4/7 (TPR 2695). It was won by Francisco Vallejo Pons.

2008: Becomes a Top 20 player

In January, at the 15th Asian Team Chess Championship in

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

, the national team won gold with Wang scoring on board one 4½/7 points (+3−1=3) with a 2534 performance. In February, he scored 7/10 (+4−0=6) at the Gibraltar Chess Festival Open finishing 20th with a 2653 performance. In March, Wang finished shared first at the

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Open, together with compatriot Wang Hao (who won on tiebreak) and Hannes Stefánsson. In his super-tournament debut in April–May 2008 at the 1st FIDE Grand Prix in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, he came joint first place with Vugar Gashimov and

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

, scoring 8/13 (+3−0=10) 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 (

) with black later on the same day. In July–August 2008, at the 2nd FIDE Grand Prix in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, he came joint third with Gata Kamsky with 7½/13 (+2−0=11; elo performance 2765) behind winner Levon Aronian and second placed

. He was featured on the cover of '' New in Chess'' magazine's July 2008 issue. On August 20–30, 2008 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Wang won the NH Chess Tournament—"Rising Stars" (Wang, Cheparinov, Caruana, L'Ami, Stellwagen) vs. "Experience" ( Agdestein, Bareev, Ljubojević, Korchnoi, Jussupow)—with 8½/10 points (+7−0=3; 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 Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Corus Chess Tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...

. In September 2008, he competed at the 5th Russia–China Match in

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

where he scored 3/5 (+1−0=4) 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. In November 2008, he played on board one for the Chinese Open team at the

38th Chess Olympiad The 38th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from 12 to 25 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany. There were 146 teams ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Germany (6½/10 (+3−0=7) and performance rating 2773). Other team members were Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi, Wang Hao and Li Chao. The team came 7th overall. On December 13–29, 2008, at the 3rd FIDE Grand Prix in Elista, Russia – moved from Dohar,

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

– he came joint fifth-ninth with 6½/12 (+2−2=9). From March to December 2008, Wang went 82 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 2008–2010 tournament.Elista Grand Prix starts, with wins by Jakovenko and Gashimov

Chessbase ChessBase is a German company that develops and sells chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates an internet chess server for online chess. Founded in 1986, it maintains and sells large-scale databases containing the moves of recor ...

, December 14, 2008 (Se
List of tournaments
and List of world records in chess.)

2009

In 2009, Wang continued to compete in the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, which was part of the World Chess Championship 2012 cycle. Wang qualified by being one of the four FIDE president nominees, along with Peter Svidler, Ivan Cheparinov,

Étienne Bacrot Étienne Bacrot (; born 22 January 1983) is a French chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, and as a child, a chess prodigy. He competed at the World Chess Championship 2007, Candidates Matches in 2007 and won the Aeroflot Open in 2009. He pas ...

. 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 Wijk aan Zee (; ) is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogove ...

, Netherlands. He came joint 8th with 6/13 (+2−3=8) and a 2685 performance in the Category 19 (average 2716) event.Rising Stars beat Experience 33½–16½
All of his decisive games were with the white pieces; He lost to Ivanchuk, Adams and Radjabov, and had wins against Morozevich and Carlsen. In Round 2, he blundered early with 9.Na7 in a what was to be a wild and scrappy game against Ivanchuk in an early deviation of the

Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...

: :Wang–Ivanchuk
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Nc3 a6 7. g3 b5 8. Nxb5 Rb8 9. Na7?? A unexpected blunder. 9... Rb4 White must have missed this move. 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Qa5 Bb7 The knight on a7 is now trapped. 12. Bh3 Qb8 13. Qh5 Ke7 13...Rb6 was much safer. 14. d5 Qxa7 14...Bxd5 15.Qxd5! exd5 16.Nc6+ Kd6 17.Nxb8 Rxb8 leaves Black with a better ending. 15. dxe6 fxe6 16. Bxe6! The black king's cover is broken, and Wang has almost reached equality. 16... Kxe6 17. Qe8+ Be7 18. Qxh8 Nf8 19. Qg8+ Kd7 20. 0-0-0+ This allows the black king to find safety, whereas 20.Qg4+ offered good chances of a perpetual check or 20.Qf7! Qc5 21.Rd1+ Kc6 22.0-0! would have allowed play to go on. 20... Ke8 21. Qg4 Qc5 22. a3 Rxb2! There are no more attacks for White, and Black finishes with a mating net. 23. Kxb2 Qxa3+ 24. Kb1 Qb3+ 25. Ka1 c3 White resigned. At the 26th

Linares chess tournament The Linares International Chess Tournament (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Linares'') was an annual chess tournament, usually played around the end of February, which takes its name from the city of Linares ...

(February 18 – March 8) Wang made his debut at the eight-player event and became the first ever Chinese player to participate. Wang finished with +1−2=11 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. In 2009, Wang also participated at the 18th Amber Blindfold & Rapid tournament in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

(May 12–23) (Topalov, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Wang, Dominguez and Shirov) debut event and second Chinese player after Bu Xiangzhi in 2008, 22nd León Rapid León June 4–7, 4 player rapid with Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Carlsen; 20m+10s, the Russia v China match and the Maotai Prince Cup China National Chess King & Queen Championships. In September Wang won the Chinese Chess King tournament with 5/7 points and a 2797 performance. Wang made his debut at the 2nd Pearl Spring chess tournament (category 21) in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. He came third out of six players with 4½/10 (Elo perf=2735); the tournament was won by

. At the FIDE World Cup in

, in November, Wang was the tenth seed, and defeated Nikolai Kabanov (2–0) and Boris Savchenko (2½–1½) before falling to

(1½–3½) in the third round playoff. His loss was notable in that both he and countryman Li Chao were forfeited from their respective playoff games for tardiness, as they were smoking outside the tournament hall and consequently arrived two minutes late for each player's second playoff game, warranting an automatic forfeiture by the FIDE regulations.

2010–2014: Becomes a Top 10 player

In January 2010, he became China's first ever top 10 player on the FIDE rankings. From May 9–25, 2010, he participated in the final FIDE Grand Prix in

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

, but failed to qualify for the

for the World Chess Championship 2012. Wang won the 11th World University Chess Championship, which took place in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in September 2010. Wang was the of the gold medal-winning Chinese team at the 2014 Chess Olympiad.

2015

In July 2015, Wang won the 6th

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

Danzhou tournament with a score of 7/9 and a rating performance of 2887. In October, he played for the Russian team "Siberia" that won the European Chess Club Cup in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

. The following month Wang took clear first place in the 5th Chinese Rapid Masters Championship.

China Chess League

Wang plays for

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs play over the board and face to face chess a ...

in the China Chess League (CCL).

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,

was quoted in an interview saying, " ang Yuedoes not allow his opponents to develop counterplay and he exerts "strangulation" style very effectively." Wang has said his childhood idol was

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

, 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 2000 WCC match. Wang has been given the nickname "Panda" by chess columnist Mig Greengard.

Openings

Wang usually plays 1.d4 as White, and for Black, plays the Sicilian,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

or Petroff against e4, and

Slav The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and N ...

against d4.

Notable games

In 2005, the 17-year-old Wang manages to defeat his first Elo 2700+ opponent, the former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov: :Wang (2549)–Ponomariov (2700), Moscow Aeroflot Open 2005, Round 6;

Modern Defense The Modern Defense (also known as the Robatsch Defence after Karl Robatsch) is a hypermodern chess opening in which Black allows White to occupy the with pawns on d4 and e4, then proceeds to attack and undermine this "ideal" center without att ...

(A40)
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Ne7 7.h3 0-0 8.Bd3 Nd7 9.Bg5 h6 10.Be3 exd5 11.exd5 f5 12.Qc2 Nf6 13.0-0 g5 14.Rae1 Kh8 15.Bd2 Bd7 16.b3 Nh5 17.a4 Ng6 18.Nb5 Bc8 19.Bc3 a6 20.Bxg7+ Kxg7 21.Nc3 Nhf4 22.Ne2 Qf6 23.Nxf4 Nxf4 24.Re3 Bd7 25.Rfe1 Rf7 26.Bf1 g4 27.hxg4 fxg4 28.Nd2 Raf8 29.Ne4 Qg6 30.b4 Bf5 31.bxc5 Bxe4 32.Qxe4 dxc5 33.g3 Qxe4 34.Rxe4 Ng6 35.Rxg4 h5 36.Rg5 Rf5 37.Rxg6+ Kxg6 38.Bd3 Kg5 39.f4+ Kg4 40.Kg2 R5f7 (diagram) 41.Rh1

References

External links

* * * * * *
Wang Yue
at Sina Sports News
Wang Yue
at the China Chess League (archived)
Wang Yue
at the ACP Tour (archived)
FIDE Grand Prix Profile

Wang Yue's May 2008 Blog Report on Baku Grand Prix

Photo report of 2008 NH Chess Tournament won by Wang Yue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Yue 1987 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess players from Shanxi World Youth Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors Asian Games medalists in chess Sportspeople from Taiyuan Chess players at the 2006 Asian Games Chess players at the 2010 Asian Games 21st-century Chinese chess players Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Summer World University Games medalists in chess FISU World University Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade Nankai University alumni