Chinese Championship 2012 – Ding Liren takes off

31.3.2012 - The Chinese championship recently started and once more Hou Yifan is playing in the men's group. This time she is actually fourth in the starting ranks, currently ahead of Ni Hua. Her opening round was a mini-disaster as she lost to 19-year-old IM Wang Chen, but top-seed Wang Yue also fell to reigning champion, 19-year-old Ding Liren, who caught fire and is leading with 3.5/4. Report.

Chinese Championship 2012 – Ding Liren takes off

The opening ceremony

2012 China Chess Individual Championships take place from 26th March to 7th April 2012 in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province, China. The top eight qualifiers will play for China Chess Championship 2013. The last four players will play China Chess Championship 2013 Group B. It is eleven rounds at 90 minutes for the whole game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. April 1st is a free day (no joke).

Gu Xiaobing joking around with friends.

The Chinese championship recently started and once more Hou Yifan is playing in the men's group (or 'Open' group as the trend of political correctness would have it). This time she is actually fourth in the starting ranks, currently ahead of three time champion Ni Hua. Given her recent run of results, it is understandable that the spotlight will be on her.

GM Wang Yue did not have the start he had hoped for and now must press the
accelerator to catch up with...

...reigning champion, Ding Liren, who defeated him in the opening round.

Her opening round was a mini-disaster as she lost to 19-year-old IM Wang Chen (2490) in the opening round, but she was not the only one to start with a setback. Top-seed Wang Yue (2702) fell to reigning champion, 19-year-old Ding Liren (2660), who caught fire and is leading with 3.5/4, followed by 17-year-old Yu Yangyi (2615) with 3.0/4.

Bu Xiangzhi

16-year-old GM Lu Shanglei is the youngest player in the men's section

Men's standings after four rounds

Rk		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts
1	GM	Ding Liren	CHN	2660	3.5
2	GM	Yu Yangyi	CHN	2615	3.0
3	GM	Ni Hua	CHN	2637	2.5
4	GM	Li Shilong	CHN	2549	2.5
5	GM	Wang Yue	CHN	2702	2.0
6	IM	Liu Qingnan	CHN	2461	2.0
7	GM	Lu Shanglei	CHN	2514	2.0
8	GM	Zhao Jun	CHN	2583	1.5
9	IM	Wang Chen	CHN	2490	1.0
10	GM	Hou Yifan	CHN	2639	1.0
11	GM	Zhou Jianchao	CHN	2625	1.0
12	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2668	1.0

In the women's championship, the early lead was taken by WGM Guo Qi (2351), followed by the elo-favorite GM Ju Wenjun (2557) who has over 100 Elo on her nearest rival.

Pictures by Fan Lulu and Yang Lei

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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Chinese Championship 2012 – Ding Liren takes off