Hou Yifan's fighting chess in Danzhou

Hello Everyone,

The talented teenager Hou Yifan started her Jermuk Women's Grand Prix 2010 - currently on in Jermuk, Armenia - with two losses. She has bounced back with successive wins and a draw. Possibly, she was tired because she arrived in Jermuk right after a strong tournament in Danzhou! Though Hou finished eighth in Danzhou, she played some fighting chess.

The 1st Danzhou Hainan Tournament - an all grandmaster event - took place from June 11 - 20 in the Hainan Province of China. Bu Xiangzhi (2681) won the tournament on tie-break ahead of Li Chao b (2619). Ding Liren, the lowest rated player of the event with 2547 Elo, and second youngest, (after Hou Yifan) was third with a 2708 performance.

You can check out the official website in Chinese or read a nice report in English here.

Here is a nice game by Hou Yifan at the tournament in which she handled her opponent's Sicilian in an interesting way. You can run it in our pgnplayer or watch it in the flash below.

PGN: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 a6 5. Be3 Nc6 6. Qd2 Nf6 7. Nc3 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. gxf3 g6 10. O-O-O Bg7 11. h4 Qa5 12. Kb1 O-O 13. Bh6 Rac8 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 gxh5 16. Bh3 Rce8 17. Bf5 Rg8 18. a3 Ne5 19. f4 Ng6 20. Rdg1 Kh8 21. Rg5 Qd8 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. exd5 h4 24. Qc3+ Rg7 25. Rxh4 Kg8 26. Rh2 Qb6 27. Be4 Qc5 28. Qd3 Rc8 29. f5 Ne5 30. Rxg7+ Kxg7 31. Qg3+ Kf8 32. Rxh7 Ke8 33. f6 exf6 34. f4 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com