Women's Chess Grand Prix: Hou Yifan in lead after 9 rounds

GM Hou Yifan

Hello Everybody,

The talented youngster GM Hou Yifan had fallen ill before the eighth round and played her game against GM Zhu Chen on the rest day.

But surely she recovered well! Because she beat Chen and then drew with Maia Chiburdanidze in the ninth round to top the table with 6.5 points! She is closely followed by GMs Koneru Humpy and Antoaneta Stefanova at 6 points each.

There are still two rounds to go. You can check photos and other statistics at the official website.

Results of Round 9

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1. GM Zhu Chen-WGM Shen Yang ½ - ½

2. GM Chiburdanidze Maia- GM Hou Yifan ½ - ½

3. IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag-WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre 1 - 0

4. GM Stefanova Antoaneta-GM Sebag Marie 1-0

5. GM Kosintseva Tatiana-GM Koneru Humpy ½ - ½

6. GM Zhao Xue-GM Xu Yuhua 0-1

Standings after Round 9

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1. GM Hou Yifan 6½

2. GM Koneru Humpy 6

3. GM Stefanova Antoaneta 6

4. GM Kosintseva Tatiana 5½

5. GM Chiburdanidze Maia 5½

6. GM Zhao Xue 5

7. GM Xu Yuhua 4½

8. WGM Shen Yang 4

9. IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 3½

10. GM Zhu Chen 3

11. GM Sebag Marie 2½

12. WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre 2

Here is the nice Hou Yifan-Zhu Chen game. You can run the moves in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.

PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. c3 a6 5. Ba4 g6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 b5 8. Bb3 Bg7 9. a4 b4 10. O-O Na5 11. Bc2 d6 12. Nbd2 O-O 13. Nb3 Nec6 14. h3 Nxb3 15. Bxb3 Na5 16. Ba2 Bb7 17. Bg5 Qb8 18. Re1 Re8 19. Bd2 c5 20. Rc1 Qa7 21. dxc5 dxc5 22. Ng5 Rf8 23. Be3 Rac8 24. Bxf7+ Kh8 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. Ne6 Qb8 27. Nxf8 Qxf8 28. Bxc5 Qxc5 29. Qd8+ Bf8 30. Rd1 Kg7 31. Bd5 Bc8 32. Qe8 Be7 33. Qf7+ Kh6 34. Qf4+ Bg5 35. Qg3 Qc2 36. Qf3 Qc5 37. g3 Qe7 38. h4 Bf6 39. Qe3+ Kg7 40. Qb6 Qd8 41. Qxb4 Nc6 42. Qc5 Bg4 43. Rc1 Ne7 44. Qc7 Qxc7 45. Rxc7 Kf8 46. b4 Be5 47. Ra7 Bc3 48. Rxa6 Nxd5 49. exd5 Bxb4 50. Rf6+ 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com