Women's World Chess Championship under way

Women’s World Chess Championship Match 2013 between the current World Champion Anna Ushenina of Ukraine and her challenger, Hou Yifan of China (former World Champion 2010-2012), is being played from September 11th to 27 in the Taizhou Hotel (Taizhou, China).

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The venue: Chunlan Hotel in Taizhou, China

The Chunlan Hotel has 141 sets of rooms, multifunctional venue facilities

The hotel reception – typical Chinese five-star grandeur

The time control of the Championship is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The winner of the ten-game match is the first player to reach 5.5 points or more. If the scores are level after the regular ten games, four tie-break games will be played, with 25 minutes for each player and an increment of ten seconds after each move. If the scores are level after the four rapid games, then, after a new drawing of colours, a match of two games will be played with a time control of five minutes plus three seconds' increment after each move. In case of a level score, another two-game match will be played to determine a winner. If there is still no winner after five such matches (i.e. after ten games), one sudden-death game will be played. This involves a drawing of lots, the winner being able to choose the colour. The player with the white pieces receives five minutes, the player with the black pieces four minutes, with an increment of three seconds per move from move 61 on. In case of a draw, the player with the black pieces is declared the winner. The prize fund for this match is 200,000 Euros and will be split between the players as follows: 60% for the winner and 40% to the loser if the match ends within the ten regular games. In case the winner is decided by tie-break games, she will receive 55% and loser 45%.

The games start at 3 p.m. local time. That translates to 09:00 a.m. CEST, 03:00 a.m. New York, 10:00 a.m. Kiev. You can find your local time here.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony and drawing of colours was held in the playing venue on September 10th. Xiao Min, the vice-president of Chinese Olympic Committee and Assistant Director of National Sports Bureau, declared the Women’s World Championship Match open.

The Women's World Champion from Ukraine and her Chinese challenger

At the drawing of colours Anna Ushenina got white in the first game.
After the first four games the colours are switched (see scoreboard below)

After the opening ceremony the players and guests were invited to visit the "China Medical City". Taizhou is a center for research and manufactur in the pharmaceutical, biochemical and bio-tech fields, and the CMC, China’s largest producer of medication, is open to visitors. A small electric vehicle takes you around the complex and into buildings.

Monumental expositions in the China Medical City complex

A traditional Chinese pharmacy – here in bronze

In the evening the the players inspected the venue and checked the lighting
(that's Ushenina second Alexander Khalifman with his arm in the air)

Big guns: Ushenina seconds Alexander Khalifman and Anton Korobov

At the technical meeting the players were informed about the time control, the "zero tolerance" rule (they must be seated at the board when the starting gong is sounded) and the absence of any restrictions concerning draw offers.

At the table Appeals Committee Chairman Jorge Vega, FIDE Supervisor Ali Nihat Yazici,
Chief Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos, deputy arbiter Carol Jarecki and FIDE official David Jarett.

Information and pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich, FIDE Press Officer

Latest: Hou Yifan won the first game with black

Full report to follow...

Score

Schedule

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The 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.