Penetrating the Chinese Wall

Carlsen breaks the Chinese Wall

The Norwegian will face Ivanchuk in Sunday’s final

SALA DE PRENSA. León

Few times the looser deserved so many applause as the very tough Wang Yue did today, after he lost the tie-break (2-2, 0,5-1,5) to Magnus Carlsen, the Mozart of chess. The Norwegian will face Vassily Ivanchuk in the final (Sunday, 16.30, www.advancedchessleon.com).

The first game made clear how accurate is to call Wang Yue “the Oriental Rock”. Two of his moves (33rd and 47th) looked like clear mistakes but, actually, he was convinced the position was a technical draw, as the game demonstrated.

The second game was much sharper. Wang Yue played much more aggressive, and it was a very nice fight. Unfortunately for him, Carlsen made a mistake on the 24^th move, when the position was still playable for Black. Since then, Wang Yue played very firmly, until his victory.

Another sensation came out in the third game. Wang Yue didn’t know the game Ivanchuk-Anand, Leon’s final 2008, where the World Champion was already lost after the 16^th move, and fell into the same trap. Carlsen did know that game: “The Leon tournament is important every year, and is good to follow it carefully, just in case you can get some good ideas”.

With a level score, the Chinese eating his finger nails, and the Norwegian ordering four Cokes at once, the fourth game was a normal draw, and the same result was signed after the first tiebreak game (five minutes + three seconds per move). It was in the second when the tiredness and the nervous control played a decisive rol. “I was more tired than my opponent, and that’s basically why I lost”, said Wang Yue. “Everything could happen. The smallest details were going to be decisive, and we can say I was lucky somehow”, replied Carlsen.

About the final against Ivanchuk, the Scandinavian said: “Obviously, he’s got more experience, and he has already beaten me in rapid games. But I normally improve my performance day by day in this kind of tournaments, once I get used to the time control. I hope that will happen tomorrow as well”.