Hou Yifan beats Judit Polgar in an historic encounter
1/31/2012 – They had never met before, over the chessboard. In round seven of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festiva the strongest female player of all time, Hungarian GM Judit Polgar, 35, rated 2710, had black against the current Women's World Champion Hou Yifan of China, 17 years old and rated 2605. In a tense struggle the younger lady prevailed. Commentary by GM Alejandro Ramirez.
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The
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is taking place from Tuesday, 24th January
to Thursday, 2nd February 2012 at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. The event is
the tenth in the series held on the Rock, the second to be sponsored by Tradewise
Insurance with technical support by Gibtelecom.
The rate of play: 40 moves in 100 minutes plus 20 moves in 50 minutes plus 15
minutes for all remaining moves with 30 seconds per move added from the start.
"There will be an historic clash at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Masters in Round 7," wrote a bulletin reporter with a sense of tradition ("an historic"). "Women's World Champion Yifan Hou (China), rated 2605, will play white against Judit Polgar (Hungary), 2710, the highest-ever rated woman player in the history of the game. They have never previously met, as Judit doesn't play in women only events, and it is some years since she played in an open tournament."
Hou Yifan and Judit Polgar before their game in round seven. Both had 4.5/6
points.
The handshake...
... and the first moves – Judit goes for an attacking Sicilian...
...and the game soon turns into a Taimanov.
The memorable summit game was annotated for us by GM Alejandro Ramírez Álvarez of Costa Rica
The hero of Gibraltar 2012, with 5.5/7 and a 2823 performance: Chinese
women's world champion Hou Yifan, number two on the women's rating list.
Photos: Zeljka Malobabic © Tradewise Insurance Ltd.
Top standings after seven rounds
Rk. |
Ti. | Name | FED |
Rtg |
Pts. |
Perf |
1 |
GM | Adams Michael | ENG |
2724 |
6.0 |
2879.0 |
2 |
GM | Hou Yifan | CHN |
2605 |
5.5 |
2823.0 |
3 |
GM | Short Nigel D | ENG |
2677 |
5.5 |
2810.0 |
4 |
GM | Le Quang Liem | VIE |
2714 |
5.5 |
2803.0 |
5 |
GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE |
2747 |
5.5 |
2795.0 |
6 |
GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | IND |
2700 |
5.5 |
2775.0 |
7 |
GM | Almasi Zoltan | HUN |
2717 |
5.5 |
2768.0 |
8 |
GM | Movsesian Sergei | ARM |
2700 |
5.5 |
2759.0 |
9 |
GM | Gopal G N | IND |
2566 |
5.5 |
2733.0 |
10 |
GM | Dzagnidze Nana | GEO |
2535 |
5.5 |
2708.0 |
11 |
GM | Negi Parimarjan | IND |
2641 |
5.5 |
2700.0 |
12 |
GM | Laznicka Viktor | CZE |
2704 |
5.0 |
2688.0 |
13 |
GM | Howell David W L | ENG |
2603 |
5.0 |
2679.0 |
14 |
GM | Svidler Peter | RUS |
2749 |
5.0 |
2677.0 |
15 |
GM | Parligras Mircea-Emilian | ROU |
2650 |
5.0 |
2672.0 |
16 |
GM | Bologan Viktor | MDA |
2680 |
5.0 |
2662.0 |
17 |
GM | El Debs Felipe De Cresce | BRA |
2497 |
5.0 |
2647.0 |
18 |
GM | Shirov Alexei | LAT |
2710 |
5.0 |
2646.0 |
18 |
GM | Koneru Humpy | IND |
2589 |
5.0 |
2646.0 |
20 |
GM | Jussupow Artur | GER |
2569 |
5.0 |
2617.0 |
21 |
GM | Akobian Varuzhan | USA |
2617 |
5.0 |
2609.0 |
22 |
GM | Gustafsson Jan | GER |
2643 |
5.0 |
2608.0 |
23 |
GM | Sutovsky Emil | ISR |
2703 |
5.0 |
2599.0 |
24 |
GM | Zhu Chen | QAT |
2472 |
5.0 |
2589.0 |
25 |
GM | Rapport Richard | HUN |
2543 |
5.0 |
2582.0 |
26 |
GM | Salem A R Saleh | UAE |
2505 |
5.0 |
2563.0 |
27 |
GM | Fier Alexandr | BRA |
2603 |
5.0 |
2537.0 |
28 |
GM | Del Rio De Angelis Salvador | ESP |
2531 |
5.0 |
2477.0 |
LinksThe games are being 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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