WWCC R06: Hou Yifan wins, takes two-point lead

by ChessBase
11/21/2011 – The sixth game of the Women's World Championship ended in time trouble. The Challenger Humpy Koneru was pressing in a basically equal position, but with time running out for both players it was the 17-year-old champion Hou Yifan who, in spite of a violent stomach-ache the night before, had the better nerves. With four games left she now has a commanding 4-2 lead. Full illustrated report.

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

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 six

The reigning Women's World Champion won the sixth game of the match and is now two points ahead of the challenger Humpy Koneru. Although White got an edge from the opening, the Chinese GM managed to equalize and break the position in the time trouble to come out a winner.

The outcome is even more surprising when one knows that Hou Yifan spent several hours in the hospital the previous night. The 17-year-old experienced severe pains in her stomach area and was immediately taken into the best hospital of Tirana by the organizers and FIDE officials. The doctors checked her medical condition, but the necessary tests revealed nothing and the conclusion was that the problem could be mainly psychological. Yifan declined to take any pain killers, but still managed to come to the game in perfect fighting condition. Such are the pressures of a World Championship match.

Note that you can click on the evaluation profile below the board to jump to the corresponding position. The evaluations were collected from the computers of spectators watching the game with the Fritz 13 feature "Let's Check" switched on.

New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Position not in LiveBook
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.cxd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Qxd4 14.Nf3 Qxd1 15.Rxd1 0-0 16.Nd4 Rfd8 17.b4 Na4 18.Nc6 Rxd1+ 19.Bxd1 Bf8 20.Bf3 Re8 21.a3 Nb6 22.g3 h6 23.h4 g6 24.Bg2 Bg7 25.f4 f6 26.Bb2 fxe5 27.Bxe5 Nc4 28.Bxg7 Kxg7 29.a4 bxa4 30.Rxa4 Bg4 31.Ra2 Re3 32.Kf2 Rc3 33.Ne5 Nxe5 34.fxe5 Rc4 35.Rxa6 Rxb4 36.Rc6 Rb2+ 37.Kg1 Rb1+ 38.Kh2 Rb2 39.Rxc7+ Kg8 40.Kg1 Rb1+ 41.Kh2 Rb2 42.Kg1 Rb1+ 43.Kh2 ½–½
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou Yifan2578Koneru,H2600½–½2011C80WCh w5


The press at the start of game six – note the time on the clock on the wall


The players shake...


... and arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos starts the clocks


Our 5D photographer Anastasiya Karlovich has five minutes to get close-up shots


Her colleague WGM Anna Burtosova works with a legendary Canon fixed focal length
F/1.8 EF lens that produces nice bokeh and smiles on the face of the photographer


Challenger Humpy Koneru in the press conference after the game


Her dejected father Ashok Koneru can hardly bear to watch


Even the winner Hou Yifan is subdued after the pressures of despearte time trouble

Score

Players
Rating
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Total
Perf.
+/–
Hou Yifan
2578
½
½
1
½
½
1
4.0
2720
+12
Koneru Humpy  
2600
½
½
0
½
½
0
2.0
2508
–12

Remaining schedule

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.

Copyright ChessBase


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.