Shenzhen Pengchengkulan wins Chinese League

In a tight finish, the Shenzhen Pengchengkulan team won the regular phase of the Chinese Team Championship. The tournament was held from 26 June to 8 July in Fuling, Chongqing District, at the Wulingshan Yunhai Hotel, with twelve teams competing. The the matches were played on five boards. One board had to be occupied by a woman and one by a junior player.

In the tenth round, Shenzhen Pengchengkulan won a decisive match against Zhejiang. In the final round, a 2.5-2.5 draw against Chongqing Ticai was enough for the leaders to claim the title. Wang Hao remained unbeaten on the top board for Shenzhen Pengchengkulan, scoring eight points from eleven games.

Jiangshu finished second, one team point behind and half a board point ahead of Hangzhou, who had the same number of points.

Multiple world champion and current world number one Hou Yifan played the last three rounds on the women's board in Shandong, scoring 2.5 points from the three games. Her team finished ninth. Hou Yifan, who has been number one in the women's world rankings for many years, is rarely active in tournaments and has more or less retired from tournament chess. In 2020 she became the youngest ever professor at Shenzheng University.

Hou Yifan, on the right, with Black

The reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun played nine of the eleven matches on the women's board for the team from her home city of Shanghai and scored 7.5 points. However, as she mostly had much weaker opponents, she still lost rating points. 

Final standings

Games

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