World Champion at 16: Hou Yifan

[Javier]

 

Born February 27, 1994, in Xinghua (Taizhou, Jiangsu, China) Hou Yifan has just become the youngest Female World Champion ever. Congratulations to her!

Previous World Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk, was defeated in round 3 of this knock out event, which was held in Hatay, Turkey 2nd-24th December 2010. T

The road to Yifan's victory was a bumpy one. She did los some games, for example this one:

 

[pgn][Event "WCh Women"]

[site "Antakya TUR"]

[Date "2010.12.11"]

[Round "3.2"]

[White "Zhu, Chen"]

[black "Hou, Yifan"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "E37"]

[WhiteElo "2477"]

[blackElo "2591"]

[PlyCount "95"]

[EventDate "2010.12.04"]

 

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8.

dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nf3 Qf6 11. h4 Bf5 12. Bg5 Qe6 {Threat is ...Ng6} 13.

Qc1 h6 14. Be3 Qf6 15. Bg5 Qe6 16. Bf4 d4 17. e3 O-O (17... dxe3 18. Bxe3 O-O

19. Bc4 Qf6 20. O-O Bg4 21. Be2 Rfe8 {Black has compensation for the pawn due

to the weakness of the pawn on h4.}) 18. Bc4 Qf6 19. exd4 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Qxd4

21. Be3 Qf6 22. O-O Qxh4 23. Bd5 Qe7 24. Re1 {White has managed to come out on

top of the opening. The pin against the N on e4 is rather annoying.} Rad8 {A

mistake.} (24... Rfe8 {This was better.}) 25. Bxe4 Qxe4 26. Bg5 hxg5 27. Rxe4

Bxe4 28. Qxg5 Bc6 29. Re1 Rd5 30. Qc1 Rfd8 31. b4 a6 32. Qf4 R5d7 33. Re3 Rd4

34. Qc7 R4d7 35. Qg3 Rd1+ 36. Kh2 R8d5 37. Qb8+ Rd8 38. Qc7 R1d7 39. Qf4 Rd4

40. Qf5 Rh4+ 41. Rh3 g6 42. Qc2 Rg4 43. f3 Rgd4 44. Qc3 R8d5 45. Kg3 {The king

becomes active, heading for e3. The Rook on d4 is pinned, moving it allows Rh8

mate.} Rg5+ 46. Kf2 Rgd5 47. Ke3 Bd7 48. Rh1 1-0

[/pgn]

 

But eventually she did defeat Zhu 2.5/1.5...

 

Hou's most impressive game was probably her victory over Humpy Koneru, the highest rated player in the tournament (2600). It was a very nice technical win in a bishop ending:

 

[pgn][Event "WCh Women"]

[site "Antakya TUR"]

[Date "2010.12.16"]

[Round "5.1"]

[White "Hou, Yifan"]

[black "Koneru, Humpy"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "C67"]

[WhiteElo "2591"]

[blackElo "2600"]

[PlyCount "155"]

[EventDate "2010.12.04"]

 

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5

8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. Ne2 Be7 11. b3 a5 12. a4 Be6 13. Bb2 h5 14. Nfd4

Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Rd8 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Rad1 Kf7 18. g3 Bb4 19. Kg2 Bd2 20. Kf3 Rd5

21. Ke2 Rhd8 22. c4 R5d7 23. Bc1 Bc3 24. Rxd7+ Rxd7 25. f4 g6 26. Rf3 Bb4 27.

Rd3 Rxd3 28. Kxd3 Be7 29. Be3 c5 30. Ke4 b6 31. Kf3 Bf8 32. g4 Be7 33. Kg3 c6

34. Kh3 Bd8 35. Bf2 Bc7 36. Bh4 hxg4+ 37. Kxg4 Kg7 38. Bf6+ Kf7 39. Bh4 Kg7 40.

Bf6+ Kf7 41. Kg5 b5 42. Kh6 bxa4 43. bxa4 Bb6 44. Be7 Bc7 45. Bxc5 Bd8 46. Bf2

Be7 47. c5 Bf8+ 48. Kg5 Be7+ 49. Kg4 Ke8 50. Be1 Bxc5 51. Bxa5 Be7 52. Kf3 Kd7

53. Ke4 c5 54. Kd3 Kc6 55. Kc4 Bh4 56. Bd2 Bf2 57. h3 Bg1 58. Bc1 Bf2 59. Bd2

Bg1 60. Kd3 Bf2 61. Be3 Be1 62. Kc4 Bb4 63. Bf2 Kb6 64. Be3 Kc6 65. Bg1 Kb6 66.

Bf2 Kc6 67. Bh4 Bd2 68. Bg5 Be1 69. Be7 Bf2 70. a5 Be3 71. Bg5 Bf2 72. h4 Bg3

73. a6 Bf2 74. h5 gxh5 75. f5 exf5 76. e6 Bg3 77. e7 Kd7 78. a7 1-0

[/pgn]

 

The final knock out match (4 games) saw another player from China facing Hou: Ruan Lufei. After those 4 rounds, both players had won a game and the other two had ended in draws. To decide the winner, they had to play 4 additional games, only this time the time controls would be a little faster: 25 minutes + 5 minutes per move. This time around Hou was able win 3-1. Here's the last game:

 

 

[pgn][Event "WCh Women Playoff"]

[site "Antakya TUR"]

[Date "2010.12.24"]

[Round "4"]

[White "Hou, Yifan"]

[black "Ruan, Lufei"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "C61"]

[WhiteElo "2591"]

[blackElo "2480"]

[PlyCount "83"]

[EventDate "2010.12.24"]

 

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 6. Bc4 d6 7. c3 Ne7 8.

d3 O-O 9. Bg5 Kh8 10. Nd2 f6 11. Bh4 c6 12. Qe2 d5 13. Bb3 dxc3 14. bxc3 d4 15.

cxd4 Bxd4 16. Rad1 Ng6 17. Bg3 Ne5 18. h3 a5 19. a4 Qe7 20. Kh1 c5 21. f4 Nc6

22. Nf3 Be6 23. Bxe6 Qxe6 24. Rb1 Qd7 25. Rfd1 Rfc8 26. Rb5 Nb4 27. Be1 b6 28.

Nxd4 Qxd4 29. Bf2 Qd6 30. e5 fxe5 31. fxe5 Qe6 32. d4 c4 33. d5 Qf5 34. d6 Nd3

35. Bxb6 Re8 36. Qg4 Qf7 37. d7 Re7 38. e6 Rxe6 39. Qxc4 Qxd7 40. Rxd3 Re1+ 41.

Kh2 Qe7 42. Qc7 1-0

[/pgn]