
The CEZ Chess Trophy 2013 pits the world's number two female player, 19-year-old Chinese GM Hou Yifan, against the best Czech GM David Navara. Hou Yifan was the Women's World Chess Champion in years 2010-2012 and is the current challenger for the title.
The four games match between Hou and Navara are taking place from Tuesday, June 11th until Friday, June 14th at the Michna Palace in Prague. The games start at 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and are played with 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment for each move. All games will be broadcast live and commented by GM Robert Cvek.
Josef Sedlák, ombudsman of the CEZ group, ceremonial execued the first move
The Chinese GM, who had white, bravely went for her trademark king pawn opening, prepared for a ruthless battle in the Sicilian Defence. The Scheveningen followed a 1985 World Championship game between Kasparov and Karpov in Moscow until move 17, when David Navara produced a novelty. Hou got an interesting attacking position but used up a lot of time on it, especially between the 30th and 40th move. She relinquished control and Navara was able to move into a rook ending with a slight advantage. It was not enough to produce a win and the game ended after 65 moves in a draw.
"I have to express my appreciation for
the very combative game by both players,
especially black, who took great risks," said GM Vlastimil Hort (above
middle)
Tomorrow at the Michna Palace on Kampa, at 3 p.m. Michael Negele will hold a lecture on the history of blindfold chess“. The second game starts on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Chess lady Marie Konrádová is the mascot of the event
LinksThe games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |