Yu Yangyi and Tan Zhongyi defend national titles
The Chinese Championships in open and women sections took place in Xinghua Jiangsu, a city in Eastern China (just like in the previous year) from May 07-15 2021. Both tournaments were 12-player round-robins with the time control of 90 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. The open section was a four-man race between Yu Yangyi (pictured below), Wei Yi, Li Di, and Lu Shanglei taking turns on the top throughout the tournament distance. Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi, Li Di scored 7/11 each and tied for first place with Yu Yangyi coming out on top thanks to the best result in the direct encounters (he beat Wei Yi in their 10th round clash whereas Li Di lost Wei Yi and drew with Yu Yangyi). The 26-year old native of Huangshi defended the champion title that he had won at the end of 2020. Photo: John Saunders The Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun participated in the open section but finished in the red (-1) two points behind the top trio. Final standings open: 1. Yu, Yangyi 2709 7 2. Wei, Yi 2732 7 3. Li, Di 2561 7 4. Lu, Shanglei 2615 6 5. Ju, Wenjun 2560 5 6. Xu, Yinglun 2554 5 7. Xu, Zhihang 2506 5 8. Xu, Xiangyu 2573 5 9. Zhao, Jun 2638 5 10. Liu, Yan 2524 5 11. Bai, Jinshi 2618 4½ 12. Xu, Yi 2527 4½ Photo: John Saunders In the women’s tournament, the defending champion and the top-rated player Tan Zhongyi (pictured above) was on a ball again and secured gold with a round to spare. Ning Kaiyu and Zhu Jiner shared second place finishing half a point behind the champion. The silver goes to Ning Kaiyu thanks to the victory in their direct encounter. Final standings women: 1. Tan, Zhongyi 2510 8½ 2. Ning, Kaiyu 2327 8 3. Zhu, Jiner 2459 8 4. Song, Yuxin 2290 6½ 5. Xiao, Yiyi 2301 6 6. Zhai, Mo 2366 6 7. Wang, Yu A. 2294 4½ 8. Gu, Tianlu 2267 4½ 9. Li, Xueyi 2328 4½ 10. Ren, Xiaoyi 2267 3½ 11. Yuan, Ye 2081 3½ 12. Gu, Xiaobing 2263 2½