Atatürk Istanbul: Hou Yifan wins with a round to spare

İş Bankası - Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament

The tournament, announced in December last year, will take place from March 10th (arrival) to March 21 (departure) 2008. The venue is the İş Bankası Towers Complex, which has a total area of 225,000 square meters. It is the largest of its kind on the European continent. Games start at 14:30h local time (= GMT +2h). March 19 is a free day. The games are being broadcast on Playchess.com.

Round eight report

• Replay all games from round eight

14-year-old Chinese super-talent Hou Yifan beat Ekaterina Atalik. Her main other rival, Pia Cramling, lost her game against against Lela Javakhishvili, giving Yifan a full point lead which assures her of at least equal first place in this event. Betül Cemre Yildiz (Turkish: Yýldýz) lost swiftly against the Ukrainian IM Anna Ushenina, to the dismay of local fans. Zhu Chen won her second game in the tournament against Harika Dronavalli. Last but not least, Zhao Xue beat Irina Krush to move to fourth place.

As before most rounds youthful Chinese WGM Hou Yifan takes a quick nap

17-year-old Harika from India does a brief session of ("non-mystical") meditation

Pia Cramling preparing mentally for her game

Irina Krush discusses some final points with her second David Pruess

Wide awake: Hou Yifan prepares to start her game against Ekaterina Atalik

Irina Krush in action against Zhao Xue (the Chinese player won)

The key game: Ekaterina Atalik vs Hou Yifan, which ended in an important win for Yifan

In the press room IM David Pruess takes on a local talent

Standings after eight of nine rounds

Pictures by Frederic Friedel in Istanbul

Links Official tournament page Download all games so far in PGN Main sponsor: Türkiye Is Bankasi Home page of the Turkish Chess Federation You can use ChessBase Light to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. It also gives you immediate access to play and watch events on Playchess.com server.