Women's World Chess Championship 2010 finalist Hou Yifan says she will take the final like any other round!

Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010

Older and brighter - Hou Yifan of China.
Find great photos of the talented grandmaster at www.chesspics.com.

Hi Everybody,


Here is an interesting interview from the official tournament website with Hou Yifan who has made it to the Women's World Chess Championship 2010. She takes on Ruan Lufei - fellow Chinese - to fight for the title this year. Yifan had also made it to the 2008 final but had lost to Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk then. 


Anastasiya Karlovich- Can you please tell about the match with Humpy Koneru?
Hou Yifan- In the first game we entered the ending which was almost equal. Later Koneru played not very good and in the bishop ending I won a pawn and the position became almost won. In the second game we came to the Sicilian defense.  I sacrificed two pawns, maybe there was some compensation, but I am not sure if it was enough or not. I had a pair of bishops, so maybe it was a compensation for me. There was also danger for her king…


A.K- What was your goal before the championship? Did you think only about first place before the tournament?
H.Y- No,no…I just wanted to try my best and play good every game.Nobody put any goal.


A.K- Who is helping you here? Do you have a coach?
H.Y- Our team has some coaches so they help all of us and me, too. This time we have coaches that help all of my team. I have no personal coach during this event.

A.K- What is your mood before the final?
H.Y- I have just normal mood, I will play the final as any other round.


A.K- I can see your mother in the playing hall… She always takes photos of you. Does she work for any newspaper or publish those pictures anywhere?
H.Y- No (smiles), my mother takes pictures for the home archive only.


A.K- What is your next tournament after the World Championship?
H.Y- Maybe Gibraltar. I think so, but not for sure. Maybe I will go there. 

A.K- There are 2 Chinese players in the final and also your compatriots played very good during the event. How can you explain such a great result? Did you have any special preparation?
H.Y- We are all happy about this result, my team mates and me too. Before the Champioship we had the Asian Games and another tournaments. And there was some special training for our team before those events. But for the World Chapionship we were preparing ourselves and there was no much time to prepare exactly for it.

A.K- How much do you train every day?
H.Y- 4-5 hours per day, except for the weekends when I train less.


A.K- Is there any attention from the Chinese government? What do they think about your results?
H.Y- Our Leader is following our games and results, and the government is happy with our success.


From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
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