I expected Kramnik to draw easily today, but instead he lost easily to the Chinese Olympiad hero (Yu, who is 20 years old, won gold on Board 3 in Tromso with the highest performance rating in the whole Olympiad).

It was a very strange game by Kramnik, I’ve never seen him make so many weakening moves and ending up lost in 20 moves! I know Kramnik (and not only him!) hates playing in the mornings (I for example have horrible results in my morning games) but the last round started at noon, not the worst of times.

So it’s difficult to explain Kramnik’s play, but all credit should go to Yu Yangyi who ended the tournament with 3/3, beating Giri and Kramnik, the number 1 and 2 seeds in the last 2 rounds (in Round 7 he beat GM Lenderman)! I’ve written in an earlier post, How to Win Opens (read it in full here), the crucial thing in open tournaments is always a good finish, and Yu had the perfect finish.

Here’s his final-round win against Kramnik: