Wei Yi has produced some of the most beautiful attacking chess of his generation — and one game in particular is already part of chess history. Because the magic of these games lives in the exact sequence of moves, we’ll describe each one in prose — the verified facts and what made it special — rather than reconstructing full scores we can’t confirm here. When you want to replay the actual moves, the best sources are his Chess.com player page and public game databases.
1. The “Immortal” — Wei Yi vs. Lázaro Bruzón, Danzhou 2015
This is the one. In July 2015, at the Danzhou tournament in China, a 16-year-old Wei Yi (rated 2724) had the white pieces against the strong Cuban grandmaster Lázaro Bruzón Batista. What followed has been called a “21st-Century Immortal Game” and is routinely ranked among the greatest games of the decade — Chess.com placed it at No. 2 on its list of the top games of the 2010s.
The game grew out of a sharp Open Sicilian, and for the first twenty-odd moves it followed the beaten paths of theory. Then Wei Yi lit the fuse. He offered a rook sacrifice on f7 to rip open the black king’s shelter, and instead of the loud, forcing follow-up you’d expect, he produced a series of eerily quiet moves — small, patient improvements that tightened the net around Bruzón’s king as it was hunted into the center of the board. It’s the kind of attack that looks like magic: no immediate checks, no obvious threats, just a slowly closing cage from which the king cannot escape.
The reception said it all. Garry Kasparov summed it up in a single word — “Impressive!” — and commentators reached for comparisons to the classic king-hunt brilliancies of chess history. For a teenager to produce a game of that depth and beauty against a 2600+ grandmaster is astonishing, and it remains the calling card of Wei Yi’s career.
2. Winning the Chinese Championship at 15 — 2015
The Immortal wasn’t even Wei Yi’s biggest result of 2015. Earlier that year he won the Chinese Chess Championship, one of the toughest national titles in the world given China’s incredible depth, and he did it as a 15-year-old — the youngest Chinese champion in history. The field he beat included heavyweights like Ding Liren, Wang Hao, and Yu Yangyi, several of them established top-30 players. Winning a national title that strong, that young, told everyone this was no ordinary prodigy. He then made it three in a row, going undefeated across the 2016 and 2017 championships.
3. Tata Steel Masters 2024 — a crown-jewel classical title
If the early years were about flair and promise, 2024 was the year Wei Yi delivered a signature elite result. At the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee — one of the most prestigious annual classical tournaments in chess, with a roll of honor full of world champions — Wei Yi tied for first and then won the title in a tiebreak playoff, edging out Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Gukesh Dommaraju. It was a landmark: proof that his attacking talent had matured into the consistency and nerve needed to win a super-tournament outright. The result helped power his climb into the world top 10 that same year.
4. The 2025 World Cup run — all the way to the final
At the 2025 FIDE World Cup in Goa, India — a grueling 200-plus-player, single-elimination marathon — Wei Yi produced the deepest run of his career. Match after match, he outlasted elite opposition to reach the final, where he faced the young Uzbek star Javokhir Sindarov. Sindarov edged the tiebreaks to take the trophy, leaving Wei Yi as runner-up — but the run carried a huge prize beyond the medal: it secured his qualification for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, the eight-player event that decides the World Championship challenger. Reaching a World Cup final against a razor-sharp field is one of the hardest tickets in chess, and Wei Yi punched it.
5. The 2026 Candidates — mixing it with the world’s best
In 2026, Wei Yi played his first Candidates Tournament, the most exclusive event in the sport outside the World Championship match itself. He didn’t win — Sindarov ran away with the title — but Wei Yi held his own in a fearsome field, finishing fourth and scoring at least one brilliant attacking win along the way that reminded everyone why he’s so feared. For a debut in chess’s toughest round-robin, competing with the very best on equal terms was a statement in itself.
Why these games matter
Look at Wei Yi’s signature moments and a clear identity emerges. The Bruzón Immortal is the headline, but it’s not a one-off — it’s the purest expression of a player whose instinct is always to attack, to sacrifice for the initiative, and to hunt the enemy king. As his career has grown, he’s paired that flair with the results that matter at the top: a crown-jewel classical title at Tata Steel 2024, a World Cup final, and a seat at the Candidates table. That’s the arc of a genuine world-elite attacker.
Want to understand how he does it? See Wei Yi’s playing style for the strengths behind the fireworks, or dig into his openings to see the sharp lines that set the stage. The numbers side of the story is in his rating history.
FAQ
What is Wei Yi’s most famous game? His 2015 win over Lázaro Bruzón Batista at Danzhou — a sacrificial king hunt, complete with a rook sacrifice on f7 and a series of quiet moves, that’s widely called a modern “Immortal Game” and ranked among the best games of the 2010s.
Was Wei Yi White or Black in the Immortal game? He had the White pieces, and the game arose from a sharp Open Sicilian. He was 16 years old at the time.
What is Wei Yi’s biggest tournament win? The 2024 Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, which he won in a tiebreak playoff — one of the most prestigious classical titles in the game.
How far did Wei Yi get in the World Cup? He reached the final of the 2025 FIDE World Cup, finishing runner-up to Javokhir Sindarov and qualifying for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.
Keep exploring
Back to the Wei Yi profile · his playing style · his openings · his rating history · or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, his FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.