Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 24th, 2011 2 Comments »
GM Hou Yifan, Women’s World Champion Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. Hou Yifan successful defended her title against Koneru Humpy by drawing the eight game in the Women’s World Chess Championship in Tirana, Albania. This was her first title defense and she won in convincing manner by 5½-2½. Perhaps her bad stretch months ago [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 23rd, 2011 7 Comments »
International Arbiter Carol Jarecki starts the clock for Hou Yifan in Game #7 against Koneru Humpy. In a must-win situation, Koneru Humpy of India was certainly looking to steal a game with a surprise in the opening. Eschewing the Sicilian once again, Humpy tried a peculiar line (9…Qd7) against the Ruy Lopez, but was not [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 21st, 2011 No Comments »
Hou Yifan was somber in victory. Her health scare was soothed by a nice win. Last night things were not looking well for Hou Yifan. According to ChessBase, she fell ill and was rushed to emergency for severe stomach pains. After tests were conducted, doctors attributed her condition to stress from the match. The defending [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 20th, 2011 No Comments »
Panoramic view of the playing hall. In today’s game, Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy fought to another draw repeating the same opening from Game #4. Yifan tried 12.cxd4 attempting to improve on yesterday’s game where she got a slight advantage but was unable to make anything of it. This game seem to offer few chances [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 18th, 2011 No Comments »
Koneru Humpy (right) on the move against Hou Yifan. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. After breaking out on top with a win yesterday, Hou Yifan had the white pieces against her Asian rival, Koneru Humpy. Looking to put a comfortable distance between them, Hou started the game with 1.e4 and perhaps expected another Petroff. [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 17th, 2011 No Comments »
Hou Yifan broke on top in a tense game which ended with Koneru Humpy’s position collapsed under pressure. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. China’s Hou Yifan won the first decisive game of the match after struggling to hold in the first two games. In the Queen’s Gambit, Hou played actively and aggressively expanded on [...]
Posted in Albania, Europe, FIDE, World Championships on Nov 15th, 2011 No Comments »
Koneru Humpy trots out the Petroff in Game #2. The Indian pressed by could not score the full point. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. Looking at the first two games of the Women’s World Championship, one may say that it is the challenger who looks to be more aggressive. In game two of the [...]
Posted in Albania, Europe, FIDE, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 15th, 2011 No Comments »
The highly-anticipated world championship match between China’s Hou Yifan and India’s Koneru Humpy got underway today. The first of ten games began with the “Killer Catalan” which has become a serious weapon in several World Championship matches. Viswanathan Anand employed with great effect against Veselin Topalov. Perhaps Koneru got some coaching from Anand. She is [...]
Posted in FIDE, World Championships on May 11th, 2011 20 Comments »
When looking at the eight players who qualified for the candidates matches, many had chosen Levon Aronian as the odds-on favorite. With Magnus Carlsen having withdrawn, Aronian was hoping to make a big splash against Alexander Grischuk. Surprisingly, Armenia’s Levon Aronian failed to advance. The match went into tiebreaks and Grischuk completed the upset in [...]
Posted in World Championships on Jan 8th, 2011 3 Comments »
Garry Kasparov in 2005 after retiring from professional chess. Since Garry Kasparov bolted from FIDE, there has been the question of whether a player should be both the highest-rated player and the declared World Champion. Although Kasparov forfeited his official crown, he continued to have credibility as the world’s strongest player and was able to [...]
Posted in Asia, China, Turkey, World Championships on Dec 24th, 2010 2 Comments »
GM Hou YifanWomen’s World Champion Since becoming one of the youngest Grandmasters in history (14 years, 6 months), the chess community knew that good things were to come for the diminutive girl from China. GM Hou Yifan, 16, would compete for the Women’s World Championship in 2008 losing to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in the finals, [...]
Posted in Asia, China, World Championships on Dec 18th, 2010 15 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipFINALS (Hou Yifan vs. Ruan Lufei) Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag Hou 2591 CHN Ruan 2480 CHN Preview: The stage is set and at the end of this final match, the glory will be China’s once again. However, who will win the Women’s World Championship Chess match? If [...]
Posted in China, India, Turkey, World Championships on Dec 15th, 2010 13 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #5 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Ruan 2480 CHN Zhao 2474 CHN 2 Koneru 2600 IND Hou 2591 CHN Preview: As if on cue, China has made a statement on the world stage once again. They will boast three of the last four players [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 12th, 2010 2 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #4 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Harika 2525 IND Ruan 2480 CHN 2 Zhao 2474 CHN Skripchenko 2460 FRA 3 Koneru 2600 IND Ju 2524 CHN 4 Hou 2591 CHN Lahno 2522 UKR Preview: Looking at the quarterfinals, you have Koneru Humpy and Hou [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 10th, 2010 2 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #3 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Kosteniuk 2507 RUS Ruan 2480 CHN 2 Muzychuk,M 2462 UKR Harika 2525 IND 3 Dembo 2454 GRE Zhao 2474 CHN 4 Skripchenko 2460 FRA Cmilyte 2514 LTU 5 Koneru 2600 IND Zatonskih 2478 USA 6 Muzychuk,A 2462 SLO [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 8th, 2010 2 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #2 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Kosteniuk 2507 RUS Khukhashvili, 2430 GEO 2 Koneru 2600 IND Houska 2421 ENG 3 Hou 2591 CHN Romanko 2414 RUS 4 Kosintseva 2581 RUS Dembo 2454 GRE 5 Dzagnidze 2551 GEO Skripchenko 2460 FRA 6 Stefanova 2548 BUL [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 4th, 2010 7 Comments »
Round #1 – Game #1 Saturday, 4 December 2010 Top Seeds maul Challengers GM Koneru Humpy got off to a promising start.Photo by wwcxc2010.tsf.org.tr. In the first round of a two-game match, upsets are likely to occur. However, in the Women’s World Chess Championship, there were no major upsets and the top seeds rolled to [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 4th, 2010 22 Comments »
Today starts the Women’s World Championship with most of the top players in the world. Of course, Judit Polgar has eschewed playing in the gender-based tournament, but as the gap closes, there may be more entrants into the upper echelon of chess. Two possibilities are from the Asian continent in India’s Humpy Koneru and China’s [...]
Posted in FIDE, Norway, Politics, World Championships on Nov 5th, 2010 7 Comments »
Magnus Carlsen has written FIDE a letter expressing his intent to exit from the World Championship Cycle. Photo by ChessBase. Magnus Carlsen, one of the top contenders for the World Championship crown, has decided to drop out of the cycle. This is the first time since Garry Kasparov that such a top three player has [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 11th, 2010 16 Comments »
Viswanathan Anand Photo © Chessvibes. There was speculation on whether the match finale would show Topalov going for the juglar. Yet it was Anand who bolted out of the opening with the dynamism that he had been reserving with the black pieces. Anand played with the energy, speed and precision that made him one of [...]
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