First stage of the Chinese League A: Hou Yifan with 100%

The A Group of the Chinese Team Championship comprises 12 teams who will compete against each other in a round-robin format over eleven rounds. Matches will be played with FIDE time control on five boards, two of which are reserved for women.

The tournament will be played in two parts. The first half - six rounds - took place from 27 August to 1 September, at the Shandong Language School. The remaining five rounds will be played from 1 to 5 October.

After the first six rounds, the Hangzhou Bank team is in the lead with 11 out of a possible 12 team points.

The team is fielding the untitled 16-year-old Kong Xiangrui on first board. The two grandmasters in the team are Bai Jingshi and Ma Qun, who play on boards two and five respectively. Fifteen-year-olds Lu Miaoyi and Yan Tianqui are playing on the two women's boards.

Lu Miaoyi

Hangzhou Bank conceded its only team point in a draw against Shenzhen Pengcheng. Lu Miaoyi lost against Hou Yifan, but this was her only loss in the event, and she is still one of her team's best players with 4 out of 6. Bai Jinshi is even better with 5 out of 6.

However, the best player of the tournament is Hou Yifan. The number one in the women's world rankings has held a professorship at the Institute of Sport at Shenzhen University for several years and now rarely takes part in tournaments. After performing well below par at an open tournament in Paris last month and losing a lot of Elo points, the former world champion was able to put in a strong performance at the Chinese team competitions, winning all her games.

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Hou Yifan's six wins helped her team Shenzhen Pengcheng to third place in the overall standings. With Wang Hao at the top board, the Shenzhen team has one of the highest Elo-rated players in its ranks, but the top grandmaster only won one of his five games and drew the rest, mostly against nominally weaker opponents. The rest of the team's players were also not at their best.

Check out Karsten Muller's Endgame Magic Show with Hou Yifan!

Wei Yi only played two games for Jiangsu

Behind the leading Hangzhou Bank and the team from Shenzhen, the Chongqing Sports Lottery team moved up to second place. The star of the team is Bu Xiangzhi, who, however, with 3.5 out of 6 on board two, was also unable to really convince. The best man in the team was Zeng Chongsheng with five out of six. Lei Tingjie scored 3.5 out of 4 on one of the women's boards.

Lei Tingjie

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