Atatürk Istanbul: Hou Yifan wins with a round to spare
3/19/2008 – Victory against a potential rival, Ekaterina Atalik, gave Chinese wonder Hou Yifan, who turned 14 three weeks ago, an unsurpassable lead of a full point ahead of her nearest rival. This became possible because Swedish GM Pia Cramling lost her game against Lela Javakhishvili of Georgia. Wednesday is a free day, the final round is on Thursday. Illustrated report.
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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
| Ti. | Name | Rtg | Res. |
Ti. | Name | Rtg | GM | CHEN Zhu | 2548 | 1-0 |
IM | DRONAVALLI Harika | 2455 |
| IM | KRUSH Irina | 2473 | 0-1 |
WGM | XUE Zhao | 2517 |
| IM | ATALIK Ekaterina | 2408 | 0-1 |
WGM | YIFAN Hou | 2527 |
| IM | JAVAKHISHVILI Lela | 2470 | 1-0 |
GM | CRAMLING Pia | 2524 |
| IM | USHENINA Anna | 2484 | 1-0 |
WIM | YILDIZ Betul Cemre | 2207 |
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)
For posterity: David Pruess recording the actions of his charge
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
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