‘Relieved it’s over’: China No 1 Wei Yi, now an Olympic chess gold medallist, reveals he’s taking a ‘long break’ after candidates

Wei Yi (photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz for FIDE) NEW DELHI: The final game of Wei Yi’s first Candidates tournament lasted 32 moves. Javokhir Sindarov has already secured the title and the right to challenge India’s Dommaraju Gukesh in the upcoming World Championship match; Wei Yi had nothing left to chase. And then none of the players pushed for a win and the game ended in a draw after about ten minutes.China’s Wei Yi, who recently won individual gold in board 2 in the open section of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, doesn’t put on any makeup when you ask the Chinese number one how he felt when his first Candidates tournament ended in Cyprus. There is no talk of glory or regret.“My first feeling was that I was extremely tired,” the grandmaster told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interaction. “I remember having a long rest after the final round. It was a relief that the tournament was finally over.”For a game that involves little physical activity, with players sitting across the board and moving pieces around, the entry may seem unusual to some. But the remark points to something the sport rarely openly acknowledges.At the highest level, the 64-field game is far from comfortable to play.“It was my first Candidates tournament and playing 14 classic matches in such an intense atmosphere against such high-level opponents was certainly not easy,” he added.

Fourteen games, ten draws

On paper, the 2758-rated grandmaster in Cyprus had a steady rather than spectacular debut, including two wins, two losses, ten draws, 7/14 and fourth place.Sindarov finished at 10, Anish Giri at 8.5 and Fabiano Caruana at 7.5. Wei Yi finished ahead of Hikaru Nakamura (6.5) and Praggnanandhaa (6).He earned his spot by defeating Andrea Espipenko in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Goa and started with draws against fellow debutant Matthias Bluebaum and Praggnanandhaa.The damage came in the third and sixth rounds. Caruana beat him in 19 moves, a game he highlights. Sindarov, playing him in the Classic for the first time, won the final game under time pressure with a queen and a rook, his fourth win in a row en route to the breakaway.Both of Wei Yi’s wins came against Espenko, in rounds seven and 13. In the second, a sharp Petroff admitted he was lucky to survive the opening.“Looking back, I’m not particularly happy with my overall performance,” he explained. “I think I could have played better in a few games, especially the one against Fabian Caruana, maybe the one in the third round.”“That said, I was also a bit lucky during the tournament. In at least three games, my position became very difficult after the first time control. My opponents were probably also tired and made some mistakes in the second time control.”These were his draws against Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa and Giri. Fatigue, in other words, cuts both ways.

Why players leave

Few know this toll better than his compatriot Ding Liren. Ding became China’s first undisputed world champion in April 2023. After a poor showing in Romania in May, he took nine months off from tournaments, citing a battle with depression. In December 2024, he lost the title to India’s Gukesh, then in 2025 he did not play any classical games. He reappeared in the Chinese Team Championship this April and scored 4/5.Speaking to this site on the sidelines of the Global Chess League in Bengaluru, where he played for the Triveni Continental Kings, Wei Yi assessed the overall situation with Liren.“I think the circumstances behind our breaks were somewhat different,” added Wei, who also took a break to study a few years ago.“I was going to university and the COVID-19 pandemic happened to start around the same time. I felt it was a good opportunity because there weren’t many tournaments,” he continued. “But I continued to participate in big events like the Grand Prix.“Regardless of who it is, I can understand why a player might want to take some time to rest and get his form back,” he said. “As a professional chess player myself, I know the pressure players face during tournaments. The pressure can be huge, especially when you reach the top level.”

“The hope that chess will become as famous in China as in India”

Wei Yi has been visiting India since 2014 when he played the World Youth Championship in Pune.“I’ve visited India many times, so many that I’ve probably lost count,” he said with a smile. “Since then I have also visited Hyderabad, Goa, Mumbai and Calcutta, to name them all, I have actually been to quite a few Indian cities.“I think all the cities I visited were very nice and the organizers of the tournaments I participated in generally did an excellent job. The atmosphere in rural India left a particularly deep impression on me.”When it comes to chess, the 1999-born has only one wish, as he concluded: “Personally, I think that Indian chess has developed rapidly in the last few years, and that’s something that people around the world can see. I wish that chess would get more support in China, to become as popular there as it is in India.”