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Hou Yifan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hou Yifan (Chinese: ; pinyin: Hu Yfn


pronunciation ) (born 27 February 1994, Xinghua, Jiangsu,

Hou Yifan

China)[2][3] is a Chinese chess prodigy. She is the Women's


World Chess Champion, the youngest ever to win the title, as
well as the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title
of Grandmaster.
At the age of 12, Hou became the youngest player ever to
participate in the FIDE Women's World Championship
(Yekaterinburg 2006) and the Chess Olympiad (Torino
2006).[4] In June 2007, she became China's youngest
National Women's Champion ever. She achieved the titles of
Woman FIDE Master in January 2004, Woman
Grandmaster in January 2007, and Grandmaster in August
2008. In 2010, she became the youngest Women's World
Chess Champion in history by winning the Women's World
Championship in Hatay, Turkey at age 16.
She lost her title in 2012 but regained it in 2013. In the
August 2014 FIDE rating list she became the third woman to
ever enter the world top 100 rankings (after Judit Polgr and
Maia Chiburdanidze). As of March 2015, she is ranked as
the No. 1 female player, and the no. 59 player overall.

Contents
1 Career
2 Results
2.1 2003

Hou Yifan in 2012 at the 40th Chess Olympiad,


Istanbul
Full name

Hou Yifan

Country

China

Born

27 February 1994 [1]


Xinghua, Jiangsu, China[2]

Title

Grandmaster (2008)
Woman Grandmaster

Women's
World
Champion

20102012 2013-present

FIDE rating

2686
(http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?
event=8602980) (March 2015)

Peak rating

2686 (March 2015)

2.2 2004
2.3 2005
2.4 2006
2.5 2007
2.6 2008

Chinese

2.7 2009
2.8 2010

Transcriptions
Mandarin

2.9 2011
2.10 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hou_Yifan

Hou Yifan

Hanyu Pinyin

Hu Yfn
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2.11 2013

WadeGiles

Hou I-Fan

2.12 2014

IPA

[x fn]

2.13 2015
3 China Chess League
4 Rating
5 Openings
6 Notable games
7 See also
8 References

Min
Hokkien POJ

Hu E
k-han
Cantonese

Jyutping

Hau4 jat6 faan4

IPA

jtfn]
[hu

Yale Romanization

Hah jaht fahn

9 External links

Career
Hou started playing chess regularly at the age of six, but was already fascinated by the game when she was three
years old. Hou's father, Hou Xuejian, a magistrate,[5] often took his young daughter to a bookstore after dinner. He
noticed that the little girl liked to stare at glass chess pieces behind the window. He later bought his daughter her
first chess set. The 3-year-old was able to beat her father and grandmother after a few weeks. In 1999, her father
engaged a chess mentor, IM Tong Yuanming, for his 5-year-old daughter.[6] Tong later said that Hou was an
unusual talent, showing "strong confidence, distinguished memory, calculating ability and fast reaction".[6]
In 2003, Hou played against the chief coach of the Chinese National men's and women's chess teams, Ye
Jiangchuan, for the first time. The chess master was surprised that the 9-year-old could identify almost all of his
weak moves. "Then I knew she was an exceptional genius", Ye said. That year, Hou became the youngest member
of the national team and won first place at the World Youth Championship for girls under age ten. In June 2007,
she became China's youngest ever national champion.[6]
She was admitted to the National Chess Center, an academy for young talented players from all over the
country,[7] in Beijing when she was ten,[8] with leading Chinese grandmasters Ye Jiangchuan and Yu Shaoteng as
her trainers.[9][10] In order to better support her chess career, her family relocated to Beijing in 2003. Hou's
mother, a former nurse, accompanies her daughter on the international tournament circuit.[5] Hou is
homeschooled[5] and lists her interests as reading and studying, and her favorite chess player as Bobby
Fischer.[7][11] Her mother Wang Qian accompanied her to many the international tournaments when she was
young.
Chess writer Leonard Barden has said that she could rival Judit Polgr as the best ever female player.[12] Of her
own career, Hou said in 2007: "I took up chess because I was fascinated by the pieces I just liked it. In the
future, I want to be a professional chess player or maybe study to be a doctor".[11]

Results
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2003
Hou Yifan's first major tournament was on 31 August12 September 2003 at the Chinese Team Chess
Championship (Men's) in Tianjin.[13] She scored 3/7 with a 2246 performance rating.[14]
She won her first international tournament when she came first (9/11; +8 =3 -0, TPR 2121) in the girl's under-10
section of the World Youth Championship in Halkidiki, Greece in OctoberNovember 2003.[15] In November, she
made her debut in the National Women's Chess Championship, held at Shanwei, Guangdong.[16] She finished in
14th place with 3/9 with a performance rating of 2202.[17]

2004
On 1 January 2004, she received her first International FIDE rating of 2168, which automatically qualified her for
the title of Woman FIDE Master. In April, she competed at the Chinese Team Chess Championship (Women's) in
Jinan, Shandong.[18] She scored 1/7 (TPR 2096) having faced an average opposition rating (Rc) of 2316.[19]
In November, she finished joint first (with Yu Yangyi, Jules Moussard and Raymond Song) but third on tiebreaks in
the boy's under-10 section of the World Youth Championship, held in Heraklio, Crete (9/11; +8 =2 -1; TPR
2119).[20]
At the 11th Asian Women's Championship in Beirut, Lebanon from 411 December 2004, she came 11th with a
score of 4/9 (+4 =1 -4; TPR 2278). The event was won by Wang Yu with 6/9.[21]

2005
In February, she competed at the 4th Aeroflot Open
(Group C) in Moscow,[22] where she scored 2/5(TPR
2111).[23]
In April, she finished fifth with a score of 7/11 (+6 =2 -3)
(tied for fourth) at the 3 Arrows Cup 2005 ladies
tournament in Jinan, China. In that tournament, she defeated
international master Almira Skripchenko and achieved a
performance rating of 2393.[24]
From 28 June6 July at the 2nd China-France Youth
Match at Shenzhen, Guangdong, Hou Yifan scored 3/8 (+2
=2 -4, TPR 2324). The Chinese team (Zhou Jianchao,

Hou Yifan, when she was 11, at the 2005 World


Team Chess Championship, Beersheva, Israel

Zhao Jun, Zhao Xue and Hou) won the match 1913.[25]
In July, at the Festival Open International des Jeunes in Saint-L, France, she came second out of 75 players with
6/8(TPR 2305), behind Wen Yang.[26][27] In 1829 July at the World Youth Chess Championship in Belfort,
France, Hou Yifan, seeded 8th came in 5th in the Boy's Under-12 Section with 8/11 (+5 =6, TPR 2171).[28]

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In October, she managed to qualify for the World Women's Chess Championship to be held in March 2006.
Despite being rated only 2220 and ranked women's number 28 in her own country, she qualified by winning the
Chinese Women's Zonal (3.5) tournament, scoring 6/9 points with a performance rating of 2526 against a rating
opposition of 2401, ahead of several better-known Chinese players.
The sixth World Team Chess Championship was staged in Beersheva, Israel from 31 October-11 November.[29]
China fielded two teams the men's and women's, which was only the second time in the championship history
where a women's team competed in what has traditionally been a male team event.[30] This was Hou Yifan's first
major team tournament and she was the youngest participant there at 11 years of age.[31] She played as second
reserve and finished with 0/3.[32] The Chinese women's team drew one match and lost all their others (+0 =1 -7)
finishing last.[33] The tournament was won by Russia, with China (men's) coming in second and Armenia
third.[34][35][36]
In December Hou came second at the China Women Selective Tournament in Beijing for the 37th Chess Olympiad
to be held in MayJune 2006 in Turin, Italy. She scored 16/28 (TPR 2433) and gained a whopping 121 elopoints. She made the Olympiad team with Wang Yu and Shen Yang, the other top finishers.[37][38]

2006
Hou reached the third round (the last 16) of the Women's World Chess Championship in March 2006.[39] Despite
being rated 2269 and seeded 56th out of 64 players,[40] she defeated IM Nadezhda Kosintseva (rated 2480) of
Russia 1 in the first round, then the former 2000 European champion WGM Natalia Zhukova (2432) of
Ukraine 20 in the 2nd round,.[41] She was beaten 02 by IM Nino Khurtsidze (2430) of Georgia in the third
round to finish with a performance rating of 2504.[42][43]
In MayJune 2006, China came third winning bronze at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. Hou Yifan scored
11/13 (+10, =2, 1), all played on the fourth board, at her Olympiad debut.[44] For her winning percentage of
84.6%, she won a silver medal for fourth (reserve) board performance, and her performance rating of 2596 was
the third highest overall.[45][46]
The Chinese Championships for men and women took place in Wuxi, Jiangsu, 25 June6 July 2006. Ni Hua took
the men's title and Li Ruofan the women's. Hou Yifan came fourth in the women's category V (2369) event with a
score of 7/11 (+5 =4 -2) and a performance rating of 2477.[47]
In JulyAugust, she performed badly at what has been traditionally the strongest women's tournament, the North
Urals Cup in Krasnoturinsk, Russia.[48] Although seeded third, she failed to win a game scoring 3/9 (+0 =6 -3)
with a performance rating of 2357. She finished 8th out of 10 players.[49]
In 1020 August, she played in the China-Russia Summit Match in Ergun, Mongolia. The tournament was a two
double round robin Scheveningen, one for men and one for women (category VIII (2444)). Russia won the men's
event 2623 but China won the women's section 28-22, winning the match 5148. Hou Yifan was the
highest scoring female player on tiebreak with 6/10 (+5 =3 -2, TPR 2563).[50]

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China and France played for the Trophe MULTICOMS in Paris 49 September 2006. This was also a
Scheveningen team match with six men and three women in the teams. France edged out China 2016 in the men's
event. The women's section was a complete mismatch in terms of Elo ratings in favour of the Chinese and they
confirmed this over the board winning 125. The overall result was China 28 France 25. Hou Yifan was
again the highest scoring female player with 5/6 and a performance rating of 2498.[51]
In October in Yerevan, Armenia at the World Junior Chess Championship (Girl's section) despite being only 12
years old, Hou was the top rated girl with a 2481 FIDE Rating and went on to take second place on tiebreak with
a score of 9/12 (+6 =4 -2); tied for first on points behind her compatriot Shen Yang. Her rating performance was
2469.[52][53]

2007
In January 2007, Hou achieved a respectable fifth place in Group C (Cat. 10, 2486) of the Corus Chess
Tournament with a score of 7/13 (+4 =6 -3) and a 2513 performance rating.[54][55][56] This result, together with
WGM norms she had earned at the 2005 Zonal 3.5 Women's Championship, the 37th Chess Olympiad and the
2006 Chinese Championship (Women's) won her the WGM title, formally conferred by FIDE in late January
2007.[57]
At the Aeroflot Open in February 2007, a few weeks before Hou's 13th
birthday, she played in the A1 group for the first time. Hou started well
with two wins out of two, defeating first the Russian IM Nikita Vitiugov
(rated 2604) and then the 2001 European Champion, GM Emil
Sutovsky of Israel (rated 2629). However in the third round she was
defeated by the Russian Championship runnerup, Dmitry Jakovenko, and
managed only one draw in her next five games. She rallied in the final
round with a victory against the Greek grandmaster, Vasilios Kotronias,
and finished with a score of 3/9(TPR 2540) .[58][59][60]
In March, at the 1st Ruy Lopez International Festival (cat. XV (2607)) in
Zafra, Hou performed badly to finish last with 2/7 (+1 =2 -4). Her
performance rating was 2462.[61][62]
In April, she came in second at the China Women Selective Tournament
in Ningbo for the 2007 Asian Indoor Games to be held in October. She

Hou Yifan at the 2007 Corus Chess


Tournament

scored 8/14 (+6 =4 -4, TPR 2434).[63]


From 111 May 2007, at the 8th Russian Team Chess Championship (Women's) in Dagomys, Hou played for
Southern Ural Chelyabinsk on board one and scored 6/10 (+5 =3 -2, TPR 2523).[64][65] At the 1st World
Women's Team Chess Championship in Ekaterinburg later that month, Hou was part of the winning China national
team that also included Zhao Xue, Ruan Lufei, Shen Yang, and Huang Qian. Hou Yifan played on board two in
every round and scored 7/9 (+7 =1 -1), winning the gold medal for that board. Her performance rating was
2559.[66][67][68]

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In June 2007, she won her first Chinese Women's Chess Championship in Chongqing. Hou was 13 years old at the
time, breaking WGM Qin Kanying's (who was 14 when she won the title in 1988) record as the youngest
champion. Hou scored 9/11 (+7 =4 -0, TPR 2585). Second and third place went to Zhao Xue and Shen Yang,
respectively.[69]
In July, she improved on the previous year's performance at the North Urals Cup in Krasnoturinsk, finishing in 7th
place out of 10 players. She scored 4/9 (+3 =2 -4) with a performance rating of 2436. The tournament was won
by Zhu Chen and with Zhao Xue in second place.[70][71]
In 415 August, she competed in what was then her strongest closed tournament the 5th Gyrgy Marx Memorial
(Cat. 14, 2582) in Paks, Hungary. Being the lowest rated player and the only non-Grandmaster (out of Pentala
Harikrishna, Peter Acs, Csaba Balogh, Ferenc Berkes and Viktor Korchnoi), she finished in last place in the
double round robin event with 3/10 (+1 =4 -5; TPR 2444).[72][73]
At the UK-China Match in Liverpool 39 September 2007, China defeated the UK team with a comfortable score
of 2820. Hou played for the men's team and scored 2/6 (+1 =3 -2) with a performance rating of 2540. The
average rating of her opponents (Rc) was 2598.[74]
In late September, she came first at the 2007 Chinese Women's Zonal (3.5) tournament in Tianjin with a score of
8/9 (+7 =2 -0, TPR 2675).[75] In October 2007, she competed at the 12th European Club Cup in Kemer, Turkey
for team Southern Ural Cheliabinsk. Hou played on board two for the team, which finished fourth in the women's
tournament. In the individual women's standings, Hou came in fifth with a score of 5/7 (+3 =4 -0) and a
performance rating of 2556.[76][77]
From October 26 to November 3, she competed for Team China at the 2nd Asian Indoor Games in Macau. The
national team won team gold in the classic chess mixed team event with 11 match points (18 game points out of
24). The Chinese team were Zhao Xue, Xu Yuhua, Hou Yifan, Wang Hao, Ni Hua and Bu Xiangzhi.[78] Hou Yifan
won an individual gold medal for her board two display with a score of 5/6 (+5 =1 -0; 91.7%) and a
performance rating of 2649.[79][80]

2008
In the January Corus 2008 chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Hou competed in Group B where she finished in a
tie for 710th place (9th by tiebreak) achieving 6/13 (+3 -4 =6) with a performance rating of 2598. She scored
victories over three grandmasters, including a 23 move win over former World Champion challenger Nigel
Short.[81]
In February 2008, Hou gained her first Grandmaster norm (GM norm) at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow by
finishing in 31st place with a score of 4/9 (+2 =5 -2, TPR 2605).[82][83] This was followed in March 2008 with a
victory at the 1st Atatrk International Women Masters Chess Tournament (cat. IX (2461)) in Istanbul, Turkey
where she finished a point ahead of the rest of the field on 7/9 (+5 =4 -0) with a performance rating of 2674.[84][85]
Her victory in this tournament earned her a GM norm conditional on FIDE ratifying then WGM Zhao Xue's
attainment of her GM title. Eventually however this GM norm was not used in her official grandmaster title
application.[86]
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In April 2008, she competed in Mrida, Spain at the 2nd


Ruy Lopez Chess Festival tournament. In the category XV
(2616) round robin event she finished 7th out of 8 players
with 2/7 (+1, =2, 4) and a rating performance of
2467.[87][88]
In MayJune 2008, she became the Chinese Women's
Champion for the second consecutive time with 9/11 points
(+7 =4 -0) in Beijing and a performance of 2599.[89][90] At
the July 2008 First Saturday GM Tournament in Budapest,
Hou was top seed, but came in second place with 9/12,
missing a GM norm by half a point. Her performance rating
was 2574.[91]

Hou Yifan at the 2008 World Junior Chess


Championship, Gaziantep, Turkey where she gained
a GM norm.

In August 2008 she competed in the World Junior Chess


Championship held at Gazientep, Turkey where she
competed in the boy's section for the first time in her career.
She was the only girl in the boy's section and was the 16th seed on the entrant's list.[92] Hou finished joint 3rd7th
on 9/13 (+6 =6 -1), achieving a performance rating of 2661[93] and her second GM norm.[94]

In September 2008, FIDE referred to her as a "GM-elect",[95] indicating that her Atatrk norm had been
confirmed. This meant that Hou Yifan qualified for the grandmaster title in August at the age of 14 years 6 months 2
days, making her one of the youngest grandmasters in history, as well as the youngest female.
In AugustSeptember 2008, she competed in her second Women's World Chess Championshipat Nalchik, Russia.
She had qualified by being one of the six highest rated players from the average of the July 2006January 2007
period. In this knockout tournament, she was seeded 3rd out of 64 players. She defeated WGM Mona Khaled
(Egypt) 20 in the first round and WGM Bathuyang Mongontuul (Mongolia), 20 in the second. In third round, she
had to go to rapid playoffs to eventually beat IM Elena Sedina (Italy) 31 (11, 20). In the quarterfinals she
defeated Armenian IM Lilit Mkrtchian 1, followed by Indian GM Humpy Koneru, the second seed, in the
semifinals (42 overall, 11, 11, 20). She lost the final to Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, 21. Nonetheless
she became the youngest ever finalist for the Women's World Championship title, earning an automatic International
Master (IM) title and a "runner-up 9-game grandmaster norm", her fourth GM norm overall. Her performance
rating for the entire championship was 2536.[96]
Hou participated at the 1st World Mind Sports Games in Beijing from 318 October as a member of the Chinese
team, winning the bronze medal in the Women's Individual Blitz event, the gold medal in the Mixed Pairs Rapid
event (with Ni Hua), the silver medal in the Women's Teams Blitz event, and the gold medal in the Women's Teams
Rapid event. In mid-late October, playing board one for team Spartak Vidnoe in the 13th European Club Cup held
in Kallithea, Greece she scored 2/4 (+1 -1 =2, TPR 2448) helping her team to a 2nd place finish. Very shortly
thereafter she played in the Cap d'Agde Rapid tournament from 24 October to 1 November,[97] losing to former
world champion Anatoly Karpov in a tiebreaker match at the end of the qualifying stage, despite winning the
second tiebreak game.[98]

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At the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden from 1225 November, she played at no. 1 board in the Chinese women's
team.[99] Although her team did not win a prize, she still placed third in the individual board prize.[100] She played in
every round with a final result of 7/11 (+5, =5, 1, TPR 2563).[101]
At the 79th FIDE Congress, held on 1626 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany, her GM title was approved
making her the 27th Chinese Grandmaster.[102] Her three approved GM norms were:[103]
Aeroflot Open Tournament A1 in Moscow, February 2008; score 4/9 (requirement=4 pts)
World Junior Chess Championship in Gaziantep, August 2008; score 9/13 (requirement=8 pts)
World Women's Chess Championship in Nalchik, September 2008; reached the final round (equivalent to a
9-game GM norm).

2009
Hou Yifan competed in the Grandmaster Group B of the 71st Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee from 16
January to 1 February 2009.[104] She was seeded 12th out of 14 players and finished joint 9th10th with a
performance rating of 2620.[105] Between 719 March, she finished third in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix
Tournament in Istanbul, scoring 8/11 (+6=41,TPR 2649).
From 1223 May, she competed at the 8th Asia Continental Chess Championship at the Subic Exhibition and
Convention Center, Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Olongapo City, Philippines.[106] She scored 7/11 with a 2640
performance, finishing 7th out of 86 on tiebreak. By finishing in the top 10 she qualified for the 2009 World Cup.
From 915 August 2009 at the Jubilee Open, Zrich, she won the "best female player" prize by coming joint 17th
with 6/9 (+5 -1 =3,TPR 2590).[107][108] From 19 August-1 September at the NH Hotels Risings Stars vs
Experienced, Amsterdam, she finished with a score of 3/10 (+1 -4 =5, TPR 2548). She was defeated in the first
round at the Chess World Cup 2009, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, 20 November-15 December 2009.

2010
In January, she finished with 4/9 at the Moscow Open. In February, she finished with 4/9 at the Aeroflot Open.
In April, she won the third Kuala Lumpur Open 7.5/9 (+6 = 2, TPR 2730).[109] In August she won the 2010
Women's Grand Prix in Mongolia.[110]
In October, she was on board two for Cercle d'Echecs de Monte Carlo in the 15th European Club Cup for
Women held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She helped her team to a gold medal win with a 4.5/6 score (+3 =3, TPR
2651).[111]
In November, she won the women's individual gold medal in the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. She
finished with 8/9 and with a performance rating of 2798.[112] She won another gold medal from the women's
team event, representing China as the first board, along with her team mates Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue, Huang Qian
and Wang Yu,[113] beating Uzbekistan 21 in the final.

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In December she won the Women's World Chess Championship 2010 in Hatay, Turkey, making her the youngest
women's world champion in history. Her compatriot Ruan Lufei was her opponent in the finals. After four games at
classical time controls, the score was tied at 2-2, but Hou won the rapid playoffs 31 to take the title. Her
performance rating was 2585.

2011
In January 2011 she was due to take part in a the Gibraltar Chess Festival, but pulled out because of a family
illness.[114] In April, she won the First Women Master Tournament in Wuxi with a 7/9 score (+6 -1 =2, TPR
2639).[115]
In June, she took part in a tournament in India, the AAI International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2011.[116]
She finished with a dismal last place, but in August, she rebounded to win clear first place in the FIDE Women's
Grand Prix 20112012 tournament in Rostov, Russia.[117] She then went on to win the second Grand Prix stage in
Shenzhen in September 2011.[118]
In August, she took part in the Chess World Cup 2011 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. She was one of the two
female participants in the 128-player single-elimination tournament. Her opponent for the first round was Sergei
Movsesian, to whom she lost 20, resulting in her elimination.[119]
In October she played on board one for team Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo in the 16th European Club Cup for
women held in Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia. Her top rated team placed a disappointing 4th place, with Hou scoring
4/6 (+4 -2, TPR 2526)
In November Hou successfully defended her women's world champion title in the Women's World Chess
Championship 2011 in Tirana, Albania against Koneru Humpy. Hou won 3 games and drew 5 in the ten-game
match, winning the title with two games to spare. Her performance rating for the match was 2741.
Beginning December, Hou played in the 2011 SportAccord World Mind Games, held in Beijing, China which
consisted of 3 events, rapid, blitz and blindfold. She placed joined 5-7th, 6th on tiebreaks with a 4/7 score (+2 -1
=4) in the rapid portion, but winning both the blitz and the blindfold portions with 11.5/15 (+9 -1 = 5) and 5.5/7
(+5 -1 =1) scores respectively.
Afterwards, Hou played for China in the Women's World Chess Team Championship in Mardin, Turkey. The 5
person team, arranged according to rating, consisted of herself, WGM Ju Wenjun, GM Zhao Xue, WGM Tan
Zhongyi and WGM Zhang Xiaowen. China was the clear winner with 16 match points, having lost but one match to
Ukraine in the 8th round and winning the rest, ahead of the runner-up Russia by three match points. Georgia
grabbed bronze with 12 match points. Hou scored five points from the seven games she played (Wenjun played the
first board for Round 1 and Round 2) (+3 = 4, TPR 2648).[120]

2012
Hou started 2012 by taking equal first place at Tradewise alongside Nigel Short at the Gibraltar Chess Festival
scoring 8/10 (+7 -1 =2) with a tournament performance of 2872. She came second on tiebreak when she lost the 2
game blitz playoff against Short by 1.50.5.[121] She scored 5/7 against the 7 GMs she played rated 2700 or

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higher. This included 4 wins against Zoltan Almasi (2717), Judit Polgar (2710), L Quang Lim (2714) and Alexei
Shirov (2710), 2 draws against Michael Adams (2724) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2747), whilst her only loss
came against Krishnan Sasikiran (2700) in a close endgame of Q (with a pawn up) versus R+R with black.[122]
From 6 to 13 March, she played and finished joint 2nd-8th in the 2012 Reykjavik Open 7/9 (+5 =4, TPR 2677).
From 27 March to 7 April, she participated in the 2012 China Chess Individual Tournament Group A, the
determiner of China's National Champion. She finished joint 7th9th, 7th by tiebreak. 5/11 (+1 -2 =8; TPR 2560).
From April 13 to April 19, Hou played in the 2012 Bangkok Chess Club open. Seeded third by rating, she finished
14th, 6/9 (+4 -1 = 4; TPR 2500).
From 29 May to 7 June, she played in the 3rd Hainan Danzhou Grand Master Chess Tournament that traditionally
showcased the top 10 highest rated Chinese players, although the two highest rated players at the time Wang Hao
and Li Chao did not participate. Seeded 6th by rating, Hou finished in 10th and last place with 3/9.[123]
From June 9 to June 22, Hou played in the 4th leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 20112012 held in Kazan,
Russia. Coming immediately off the heels of the recently completed Chinese Men's super tournament in Danzhou,
she started off slowly with 2 points in the first 5 rounds before closing strongly with 4 wins in the final 6 rounds. She
finished joint 3rd4th. 7/11 (+5 -2 = 4; TPR 2604).
From July 16 to July 19, Hou played in the 5th leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 20112012 held in Jermuk,
Armenia. She won the event with a 7/11 score (+4 1 =6, TPR 2598). This victory added to her victories in
Rostov 2011 and Shenzeng 2011 made Hou the winner of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 20112012 and
secured for herself the challenger spot for the Women's World Chess Championship 2013.
At the 40th Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey from 27 August to 10 September 2012, Hou Yifan led the
Chinese women's chess team to a second place, silver medal finish. Hou won the gold medal for individual
performance on board 1 with a 2645 TPR, 6.5/9 score (+4, =5). During the competition she was presented with
the Caissa Cup, which honors the female player with the best chess results during the year.
From October 8 to October 17, Hou played in the European Chess Club Cup 2012 as a member of team, Cercle
d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo. She played board 1 with 4.5/6 score (+4 -1 =1, TPR 2609) and her heavily favored
team swept the round robin competition with a 7-0 score.
From October 19 to October 27, Hou played in the main even of 16th Univ Hoogeveen Chess Festival as part of
the Univ Crown Group, a four player double round robin tournament. The average rating of the participants was
2695, making this a category 18 tournament. Hou finished in last place with a 2/6 score (-2 =4, TPR 2605).[124]
In an interview in Kazan she said that she was going to start studying international relations at Beijing University in
September. She said that she was glad China was moving away from its one-child policy, she would have liked to
have had a brother or sister, and she knew of women who had been forced to have abortions.[125]
In November 2012 she was knocked out in the second round of the Women's World Chess Championship 2012.
As the winner of FIDE Women's Grand Prix 20112012 she earned the right to challenge the new champion in the
Women's World Chess Championship 2013.[126]

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During December 12 to 19, Hou concluded the year by participating in the 2012 SportAccord World Mind
Games, competing in the 3 disciplines of Rapid, Blitz and Blindfold. In the rapid event, she placed second on
tiebreaks with a 5/7 score (+4 -1 =2, TPR 2713). For the blitz event, she placed 7th by tiebreaks with a 7/15
score (+6 -7 =2, TPR 2487). In the blindfold event, she won with a 6/7 score (+6 -1).

2013
Hou was invited to participate in the 2013 Tata Steel Chess Tournament Grandmaster A group in Wijk aan Zee
from 1227 January. This was a Category 20 event, and her first supertournament participation. She was the
lowest Elo rated player at 2603 and seeded 14th. She surpassed initial expectations by finishing 11/14 with a
5.5/13 score (+3 -5 =5, TPR 2688) including a draw against then World Champion Viswanathan Anand. She
competed in the 2013 China Chess Individual Tournament Group A in Xinghua, China from April 16 to the 27th.
She finished in a six way tie for 4th to 9th place, 4th by tie breaks, with a 5.5/11 score (+3 -3 =5, TPR 2609).[127]
From May 2 to May 16, Hou competed in the 1st leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 20132014 held in
Geneva, Switzerland. She was the highest rated player in the event but finished 8th/9th, including a loss to the
Women's World Champion 2012-13, Anna Ushenina. Her score was 5/11 (+3 -4 = 4, TPR 2470).
From 11 to 14 June, she played a four game match with David Navara for the CEZ Chess Trophy 2013. All four
games ended in draws, so the winner would be decided by tie breaks. After each player won with white in the blitz
portion, an armageddon game won by Hou, as black, gave her the trophy. Her performance rating for the classical
games was 2707.[128]
From June 30 to July 3, Hou was part of the team representing China in the 4th Asian Martial Arts Games held in
Incheon, South Korea. She won a gold medal in the classical portion of the event with a 6.5/7 score (+6 =1). In
August, she took part in the Chess World Cup 2013 in Troms, Norway. She was one of four female participants
in the 128-player single-elimination tournament. Her opponent for the first round was Alexei Shirov. After two
draws in the classical portion of the match, they proceeded to tiebreaks. Hou won the first rapid game with white
and lost the second with black. In the next tiebreaker set she lost both games resulting in her elimination.
As the winner of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 20112012, Hou won the right to challenge Anna Ushenina in a
10 game match for the world title. Scheduled from September 10 to the 27th, the Women's World Chess
Championship 2013 was played in Taizhou, Jiangsu, China. She won the match in 7 games with a 5.5-1.5 score
(+4 =3, TPR 2730) regaining her championship title.[129]
From 19 to 26 October, Hou played in the European Chess Club Cup 2013 as a member of team, Cercle
d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo. She played board 1 with 5/6 score (+4 =2, TPR 2736) and for the second year in a
row, her team swept the round robin competition with a 7-0 score. From 12 to 18 December, she played in the
SportAccord World Mind Games in the chess discipline. The tournament consisted of three events: rapid, blitz and
the basque system. In the rapid event, Hou scored 5/7 (+3 = 4, TPR 2691) capturing the silver medal. In the blitz
event, she won the gold medal with a 21.5/30 score (+19 -6 =5, ). Notable was that during the second day of the
blitz event, Hou achieved a near perfect 9.5/10 score. In the final event played under the basque system, Hou won
the silver medal on tiebreaks with a 7/10 score (+7 -3).[130]

2014

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From 1122 March, Hou competed in the 2014 China Chess Individual Tournament Group A in Xinghua, her
birthplace. She again played against the men in the open section rather than in the women's section. She finished in
7th place with a 5.5/11 score (+2 -3 =6, TPR 2558).[131]
From July 14 to July 24, Hou played in the grandmaster section of the prestigious Biel chess tournament. This was
a six player category 19 event with an average rating of 2717 with Hou being the lowest rated player. She started
with a win over Anish Giri and was tied for second entering the final round and could take joint first place by
winning her final game against Pendyala Harikrishna. While she wound up losing the final game, Hou still had a
successful tournament, finishing joint 3rd-5th with a 5/10 score (+2 -2 =6, TPR 2734).[132]
From August 1 to August 14, Hou participated in 41st Chess Olympiad in Troms, Norway as board one of the
top seeded Chinese Women's team. The team rattled off six straight wins before succumbing to the second seeded
Russian team with Hou losing her individual game, as black, to Kateryna Lagno. She ended the Olympiad with a
7/9 score (+6 -1 = 2, TPR 2671) leading her team to the silver medal. Her own performance was good enough to
receive the silver medal for board one.[133]
Hou is the winner of FIDE Women's Grand Prix 201314. From April 8 to April 22, she played in the 4th stage in
Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Opening with 3 straight victories, she dominated from start to finish. Several times as
white she eschewed her regular 1.e4 opening move and began with 1.c4 and 1.g3. She finished in 1st place with an
8.5/11 score (+6 =5, TPR 2695).[134] From June 18 to July 2, she played in the 5th stage in Lopota, Georgia.
Leading from start to finish, she won with a 9/11 score (+7 = 4, TPR 2773), a full two points over her nearest
competitors.[135] From August 24 to September 6, she competed in the 6th and final stage in Sharjah, United Arab
Emirates. She finished joint first with Ju Wenjun with an 8.5/11 score (+6 =5, TPR 2686).[136]
During September 13 to 21, she competed at the 18th European Club Cup held in Bilbao, Spain. Once again she
was the top board for Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo winning the individual gold medal for her performance 5/6
(+4 =2, TPR 2749) while leading her team to a second place finish.[137]
With the postponement of the Women's World Chess Championship 2014 [138] she played in the Corsican Chess
Circuit in October and won, beating Sergey Fedorchuk in the final. This has been described as the most important
tournament yet to be won by a female player other than Judit Polgar.[139][140][141]
From December 11 to 18, Hou played in the 2014 SportAccord World Mind Games held in Beijing, China. The
Mind Games consists of separate tournaments in 3 disciplines: rapid, blitz and basque. In the rapid event, she
placed second capturing the silver medal, losing only to Valentina Gunina, the eventual event winner. Her
performance was 5/7 (+4 -1 = 3, rapid TPR 2672). She won the gold medal in the blitz event with a 22.5/30 score
(+20 -5 = 5, TPR 2718). Especially noteworthy in her blitz tournament was her performance pushed her official
blitz rating to 2704, making her the second female player to cross the 2700 barrier in any rating format. In the final
basque system event, Hou took home another gold medal with an 8.5/10 score (+7 =3).[142]
With Hou turning twenty one in 2015, she loses her junior status eligibility. Therefore she ended the year and her
junior playing career as the reigning Women's World Chess Champion, the 2nd highest rated female player, the
highest rated girl, the 4th highest rated junior and the 71st highest overall rated active player.[143]

2015
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Hou was once again invited to play the 2015 edition of Tata Steel Chess Tournament held from January 15th to
25th. She was the 12th seed out of 14 total participants in the Category 20 Master group and finished 11th with a
5/13 score(+1 -4 = 8, TPR 2670). While she performed approximately according to her rating, Hou had winning
chances in a few of her games and even missed a drawing chance against world champion Magnus Carlsen after
defending a difficult position as black for most of the game.
Shortly after the conclusion of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, she returned to the scene of her greatest chess
tournament triumph, the Gibraltar Chess Festival 2015 held from January 27th to February 4th. Seeded 13th by
rating, she placed joint 3rd-11th, 3rd by performance with a 7.5/10 score (+5 =5, TPR 2772) pushing her FIDE
rating to 2686. She also won the 1st place prize for being the highest scoring female player. Her excellent
performance in this event caused her rating to surpass Judit Polgr's classic rating for the first time in the March
2015 FIDE rating list and end Polgr's twenty six consecutive years reign as the top rated female player in the
world. For the first time since Maia Chiburdanidze in January 1989 a single individual is both the top rated woman
player and the reigning Women's World Chess Champion.[144]
She played in the Hawaii Grandmaster Challenge 2015 in March, a two day four player quadruple blitz and rapid
round robin event. She began the first day with a 3.5/6 score before crushing her opponents the second day with
five straight wins and a draw in the final game easily winning the event with a 9/12 score. Since this event conflicted
with the Women's World Chess Championship 2015 (knock-out) she will relinquish her title at the conclusion of the
Championship.[145]
She has qualified for the Women's World Chess Championship 2015 as the winner of the FIDE Women's Grand
Prix 201314.

China Chess League


Hou Yifan has participated in the 2007 and 2008 seasons of the Chinese domestic league, officially known as the
"Torch Real Estate Cup Chinese Chess League Division A". She played for Shandong Qilu Evening News Chess
Team, who became the 2007 champions when they defeated the 2006 champion Beijing team, 3 to 1. In the
2008 season, there were 18 rounds in six different cities over a six-month period, from March to August. Hou's
teammates were GM Bu Xiangzhi, GM Zhao Jun, GM Wen Yang, and WGM Zhang Jilin.[146]

Rating
Rated 2686 in the March 2015 FIDE rating list, Hou is the world no. 59 player and world no. 1 woman player
(overtaking Judit Polgr for the first time). On 1 July 2006, she was the youngest ever female player to enter the
Top 50 Women (Number 8)[147] and Top 20 Girls (Number 2)[148] FIDE lists at age of 12 (rated 2488), since
FIDE began releasing these lists in 2000.
Between the April 2006 and July 2006 FIDE rating lists, she gained an impressive 190 rating points from a rating of
2298 to a rating of 2488,[149] which made her the eighth highest rated female player, and the second highest rated
girl, in the world.

Openings
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Hou Yifan primarily plays 1.e4 as White. As Black, she usually plays the Sicilian Defence (including the Najdorf,
Dragon and Closed variations) as well as the French Defence against 1.e4, while against 1.d4 she plays the Nimzo/Bogo-Indian and Queen's Indian defences.[150][151]

Notable games
On 25 January 2008, Hou as Black beat GM Gabriel Sargissian
(2676) of Armenia, longtime second of Levon Aronian, in the Corus
(Group B) tournament, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands:

G. SargissianHou Y., 2008


a

Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto. Nimzowitsch Variation

(E15).

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6

5. Qc2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. e4 d5 8. cxd5 Bxf1 9. Kxf1 exd5


10. e5 Ne4 11. Nc3 Nxd2+
A novelty.
12. Nxd2 Qd7 13. Kg2 Nc6 14. Qa4 0-0 15. Rac1 f6?

Final position after 49...Re8

16.Nd1 Nxe5 17.Qxd7 Nxd7 18.Rxc7 Bb4 19.Nf3 +/;


better was 15...Rfd8.
16. f4 fxe5 17. dxe5 Bb4 18. Rhf1 Rac8 19. Ne2 Nxe5 20. Qxb4 Nd3 21. Qb3 Nxc1 22. Nxc1 Rce8 23.
Nf3 Qf5 24. Rf2 c5 25. Qd3 Qe4 26. Rd2 d4 27. Qxe4 Rxe4 28. Nd3 Re6 29. h4 Rc8 30. a4 a6 31. Nfe5
b5 32. a5 g6 33. Rc2 c4 34. Nb4 Rf8 35. b3 d3 36. Rd2 Rc8 37. Rd1 Rd6 38. Kf3 d2 39. bxc4 bxc4 40.
Nc2 c3 41. Ke2 Rd5 42. Ng4 Rxa5 43. Nge3 Rd8 44. Rb1 Ra2 45. Kd1 Rb2 46. Ra1 Rdb8 47. Rxa6
Rb1+ 48. Ke2 Rc1 49. Rc6 Re8 01
If 50.Kd3, then Rxc2 follows. If 50.Rxc3, then d1=Q+.

See also
List of female chess players
List of youngest grandmasters
List of chess grandmasters

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External links
Hou Yifan (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?
pid=95916) player profile and games at Chessgames.com,

Wikimedia Commons has


media related to Hou Yifan.

includes notable games


Profile at NICBase Online Info (http://www.newinchess.com/Hou_Yifan__-ip-128035.html)
Profile (http://www.starzsports.cn/English/ydy_2.asp?id=159) at Starz International Sports
2007 (http://www.coruschess.com/participants.php?year=2007&group=3&bio=6) and 2008
(http://www.coruschess.com/participants.php?year=2008&group=2&bio=13) short biographies at Corus
Chess official website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hou_Yifan

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Profile and interview (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5197), ChessBase.com, 5


February 2009
Hou Yifan interview at the 2009 World Cup (http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/interv_1.htm)
Hou Yifan interview at the 2010 World Championship (http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2010/12/interviewwith-hou-yifan.html)
Hou Yifan interview with Dominic Lawson over a game (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mjlzq)
Preceded by
Li Ruofan

Women's Chinese Chess


Champion
2007, 2008

Succeeded by
Shen Yang

Preceded by
Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion


20102012

Succeeded by
Anna Ushenina

Preceded by
Anna Ushenina

Women's World Chess Champion


2013-present

Succeeded by
Incumbent

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hou_Yifan&oldid=653451904"


Categories: 1994 births Living people People from Taizhou, Jiangsu Chinese chess players
Chess woman grandmasters Chess grandmasters World Youth Chess Champions
Women's World Chess Champions Asian Games medalists in chess Sportspeople from Jiangsu
Chess players at the 2010 Asian Games
This page was last modified on 25 March 2015, at 12:42.
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