WWCC R04: Draw, Hou Yifan remains in the lead

by ChessBase
11/19/2011 – The reigning world champion from China was pressing hard in this game, but all attempts to gain a two-point lead in the match were thwarted by challenger Koneru Humpy's resilient defence. The match now stands 2½-1½ for the incumbent. In the press conference after the game the players analysed for the journalists using Fritz 13 and a flat screen. You can see what they said in our round four report.
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The FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship Match between the current World Champion Hou Yifan of China and her challenger, Koneru Humpy of India, is being staged in the Triana International Hotel from November 14 to 30. The time control 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. The prize fund is 200,000 Euro, with 60% going to the winner. The games start at 15:00h local time, which is also Central European Time = 17:00 Moscow, 19:30 New Delhi, 22:00h Beijing and 09:00 New York. You can find the starting time for other locations here.

Game four – Draw, Hou Yifan remains in the lead

In the fourth game of the Women's World Championship match the title holder Hou Yifan had the white pieces. As her opponent Humpy Koneru said at the post-game press conference: White got an edge and was pressing throughout the game – she had to defend the position that was not at all pleasant for her. In the difficult endgame White managed to win a pawn, but there were not many sources left for a fight – both players had a rook and a knight. The challenger defended this endgame well, despite being short on time, and the opponent agreed to a draw. The game finished only at 8 p.m. and was the longest encounter of the match so far.

The press conference after the game included a lot of chess questions. Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru answered, showing variations from the game on the computer (running Fritz 13) that was connected to a large screen, so all the guests in the press center could see the analysis. Here we bring you the key moments of the game through the eyes of the players. Note that you can click on the evaluation chart below the board to jump to specific parts of the game.

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 Be7 11.Bc2 d4 12.Nb3 d3 13.Nxc5 dxc2 14.Qxd8+ Rxd8 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Be3 Rd5 17.c4 bxc4 18.Rac1 Nb4 Hou Yifan: I remembered that I played this line before, but I could not recall the game. 19.a3 Nd3 20.Rxc2 Kd7 21.Bd4 Rb8 22.Bc3 c5 Humpy Koneru: I was also thinking about another move here, which is 22...Bc5 23.g3 Rf8 24.Kg2 which was also possible to play. 22...Rf8 was also possible here. 23.Nd2 Nxe5 24.f4 Humpy: After this move I think White is better in the endgame. I have weak pawns. But the question is how to convert it into a win. It was a tough game, I had to defend a lot. Ng4 25.Nxc4 Bf6 26.Re1 Bd4+ 27.Bxd4 Rxd4 28.h3 Nf6 29.Ne5+ Kd6 30.Nf7+ Kd7 31.Ne5+ Kd6 32.Nf7+ Kd7 33.Rxc5 Rxb2 34.Ne5+ Ke8 35.Nf3 Humpy: I think White could have tried 35.Rc7 This would have been better for White than the actual game. 35...Re4 36.Rxe4 Yifan: I think I could have played better. Maybe I missed some good chances today. For example if I played 36.Rd1 here, I don't know what would have happened. It could be a better continuation. 36...Nxe4 37.Re5 Nc3 Is there any difference if Black had played 37...Ng3 Humpy: When the knight is on c3, it also controls the a-pawn, so I think it is better. 38.Rxe6+ Kf8 39.Rxa6 The commentators of the tournament asked Hou Yifan if she had considered playing 39.Kh2 here, with the possible line Ne2 40.Re4 Yifan replied: Yes, I missed this line, it could be better to play it. Humpy Koneru: Of course it was better for White to try this out. 39...Ne2+ 40.Kh2 Nxf4 Hou Yifan: After we passed the time control on the 40th move, the position was already a draw 41.Kg3 Nxg2 42.Re6 h6 43.Ne5 Ra2 44.a4 g5 45.Rxh6 Ne1 46.Rf6+ Kg7! 47.Rg6+ Kh7 48.Rxg5 Rxa4 49.h4 Ra3+ 50.Kg4 Ng2 51.h5 Ne3+ 52.Kf4 Nd5+ 53.Kf5 Ra5 54.Rg1 Ra2 55.Ng4 Ra5 56.Ke4 Nc3+ 57.Kd3 Nd5 58.Ke4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou,Y2578Koneru,H2600½–½2011C83WCh w4


The press conference, with the players explaining their moves on a flat screen


Hou Yifan and Anastasiya Karlovich analysing the game with a notebook computer...


... running the latest Fritz 13. The audience can follow everything on the flat screen.

The commentary system was set up by the Chief Executive Officer of FIDE and of Global Chess Geoffrey Borg (above right with arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos), who sacrificed his personal copy of Fritz 13 for the good of the event. Thanks, Geoffrey, and don't worry, we are sending you a new serial number for your program.

Score

Players
Rating
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Total
Perf.
+/–
Hou Yifan
2578
½
½
1
½
2½
2688
+6
Koneru Humpy  
2600
½
½
0
½
1½
2490
–6

After four games World champion Hou Yifan is leading with 2.5 to 1.5 points. Saturday, November 19th is a rest day, and the match will continue on Sunday. Hou Yifan will have the white pieces again. The measure of changing the colors after the fourth game has been adopted to prevent the same player having the white pieces after each of the rest days throughout the match, because this might give her an advantage in preparation.

Remaining schedule

Saturday 19 November 2011 Rest day
Sunday 20 November 2011 Game five
Monday 21 November 2011 Game six
Tuesday 22 November 2011 Rest day
Wednesday 23 November 2011 Game seven
Thursday 24 November 2011 Game eight
Friday 25 November 2011 Rest day
Saturday 26 November 2011 Game nine
Sunday 27 November 2011 Rest day
Monday 28 November 2011 Game ten
Tuesday 29 November 2011 Rest day
Wednesday 30 November 2011 Tie-break, closing   

Photos and news from Tirana by WGMs Anastasiya Karlovich
and Anna Burtasova, with kind permission of FIDE

Links

The 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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