Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
The Women's World Chess Championship being played in Hatay, Turkey, is now down to four players. The first matches of the penultimate Round - Round 5 - took place with one ending in draw while the other having Hou Yifan beat top-rated Koneru Humpy in a critical endgame.
Ruan, Lufei CHN WGM 2480 drew her game with White against Zhao, Xue CHN GM 2474. In the other section, Hou, Yifan CHN GM 2591 beat Koneru, Humpy IND GM 2600. You can access all the live coverage at the official tournament website here.
Meanwhile, here are the two games of the semi-final. Run the moves in our pgnplayer or watch the games in flash below.
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 dxc6 7. Bc4 Ne7 8. Qxf6 gxf6 9. Bf4 Bb6 10. a4 a5 11. Nd2 Ng6 12. Bg3 h5 13. h4 Ne5 14. Be2 Be6 15. O-O-O O-O-O 16. Nf3 Ng4 17. Rxd8+ Rxd8 18. Rf1 Rg8 19. Ne1 Kd8 20. b3 Ke7 21. Nd3 Ne3 22. Rh1 f5 23. exf5 Nxf5 24. Bf4 Rxg2 25. Bxh5 Bxf2 1/2-1/2
PGN: 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
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It seemed Hou had made up her mind about not accepting a draw at all. It's still anyone's game. Nothing can be said. These are talented young ladies. Revisiting 2008 Nalchik. Miss ya Chess Queen.
ReplyDeleteUpdate #1 Ruan Lufei and Xue Zhao have drawn their Round 5b game. They go into the tie-breaks to decide a slot for the finals of the Women's World Championship 2010. (Full report to follow.)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a Yifan-Lufei final. I was cheering for Humpy though. :)
ReplyDeleteIn two years Hou has evolved as one strong fighter who doesn't wish to settle for anything less than a win. She lost one game though. Even if Hou or Humpy qualify and face either of the other two in the final - it can be expected that both the finalists will do more than their best at that crucial stage. However, overall men's chess remains stronger than women's I think.
ReplyDeleteHou Yifan is going to use every trick in the book to hold a draw today. She has the chances with White. Damn, why did Humpy have to lose yesterday. But then chess results are so unpredictable. I would have been sad for either of them losing actually.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Humpy wins and both games go into tiebreaks tomorrow. That would be neat. No other chess out there to watch otherwise tomorrow will be a dull day. Chinese Chinese Chinese Indian - funny coincidental majority.
ReplyDeletehou vs ruan
ReplyDeleteOnly China and India are now following the Women's World Championship - it would have been more fun if there had been four girls in semis from four different countries. That would have been more fun.
ReplyDeletehou vs ruan
ReplyDeleteHou in the final !
ReplyDeleteI hope she wins the title.
She was beaten 2 years ago in the final by...the Chess Queeen :-)