2/25/2017 – Two American grandmasters won the first major chess events of 2017. Wesley So triumphed in the traditional Dutch tournament in Wijk aan Zee and Hikaru Nakamura prevailed in Gibraltar. Their victories were almost upstaged by the Women’s world champion Hou Yifan. She deliberately lost a last round game in five moves with the white pieces. GM Lubomir Kavalek recapitulates with seven annotated games.