Wei Yi — Youngest 2700 Player in History · 2024 Tata Steel Masters Champion

Wei Yi's 21st-Century Immortal · 22. Rxf7!! King Walk to h3 (2015)

Wei Yi vs Lázaro Bruzón · Hainan Danzhou Super-GM · ECO B40 · 1-0

Black just recaptured 21...Nxd5 expecting 22. exd5. Instead, 16-year-old Wei Yi uncorked a rook sacrifice dragging Black's king from g8 to h3! Find it!

What Attacking Players Should Steal from Wei Yi

• Fearless king-hunt imagination: spots multi-piece sacrifices followed by quiet sealing moves (like 26. Qf7!!) moves in advance.
• Sharp 1. e4 attacking repertoire: punishes Sicilian setups with direct f4–f5 kingside storms.
• Complete modern tournament maturity: crowned at Wijk aan Zee 2024 against the world's elite.

• Look for the 'sacrifice + quiet net' formula: after checking the king into the center (Rxf7–Be4+), a quiet queen move (26. Qf7!!) deals the real knockout.
• Use the f4–f5 pawn lever in Open Sicilians to pry open the f- and g-files toward f7/g6.
• Verify every king escape square systematically—one missed flight square ruins a rook sacrifice.

Wei Yi attacks fearlessly with 1. e4 against Sicilian Taimanov/Kan setups and Italian lines as White, balanced by crisp Petrov Defense and Sicilian counterplay as Black.

• Sicilian: Open Mainlines: Scheveningen, Kan & Taimanov (B40)
• Petrov Classical & Nimzowitsch (C42)
• Queen vs Rook & Breaking the R+P Fortress

FAQ

Why is Wei Yi vs Bruzón (2015) called the '21st-Century Immortal'?

At just 16 years old, Wei Yi sacrificed a rook on f7 and a bishop on e4, followed by the quiet 26. Qf7!! and 29. Qb3!!, driving Bruzón's king from g8 all the way to h3.

What rating record does Wei Yi hold?

In March 2015, Wei Yi became the youngest player in history to surpass 2700 FIDE at 15 years, 9 months, and 3 days—breaking Magnus Carlsen's record.

What major super-tournament did Wei Yi win in 2024?

Wei Yi won the 2024 Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee—often called the 'Wimbledon of Chess'—defeating Gukesh in the tiebreak final.