WWCC R08: Draw, Hou Yifan retains World Championship title

by ChessBase
11/24/2011 – The eighth game was the third Ragozin in this match. Challenger Humpy Koneru, in a must-win situation, came out of the opening with a small advantage, which she started to lose around move 22, after which her opponent took control. A draw was agreed on move 29, which means that Chinese GM Hou Yifan is the old (though just 17) and new World Champion. Congratulations Yifan, great show!
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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, was staged in the Triana International Hotel from November 14 to 30. The time control was 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 was the first player to reach 5.5 points or more – which turned out to be the title holder Hou Yifan after eight games. The prize fund was 200,000 Euro, with 60% going to the winner.

Game eight


Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos starts the clock for what would be the final game


It's another Ragozin, with Humpy in a must-win situation


The ladies sink into thought...

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1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 e5 9.a3 Bd6 10.d5 Ne7 11.0-0 a6 12.b4 Bd7 13.Bb2 Ng6 14.Ng5 Qe7 15.Nge4 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 Bf5 17.Bd3 Bxe4 18.Bxe4 Qg5 19.Bxg6 hxg6 20.e4 Rac8 21.Qc3 Qh4 22.f4?!
22...f6 Did the Indian challenger hope against hope that her opponent would miss 22...exf4?? 23.Qxg7# Probably not, but now the white position is compromised. 23.Qg3 Qxg3 24.hxg3 Rfe8 25.fxe5 Bxe5 26.Bxe5 Rxe5 "Hoovering the board", one of our 2800+ friends calls this. White can no longer hope to win. 27.Rfe1 Kf7 28.Rac1 Ke7 29.Rc4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Koneru,H2600Hou,Y2578½–½2011D38WCh w8


A disappointing result in this game and the match for Humpy


A remarkable +3 result for the 17-year-old Yifan


Can hardly believe it: Yifan's mother Wang Qian


Beatriz Marinello (Appeals Committee) and Carol Jarecki (arbiter)

You can replay all eight games of the match, with Let's Check evaluation profiles below the board to give you a quick overview of what transpired (click to jump to critical positions). Note that gaps in the evaluations do not mean that an advantage was suddenly lost and regained, but simply that for instance the move was executed quickly and the computers of the kibitzing public were not able to upload a reasonable evaluation into the cloud. Select from the drop-down list on the left.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 Bb7 12.a4 b4 13.Bf4 Nd5 14.Bg5 Nd7 15.Bxe7 Qxe7 16.Ne5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 a5 18.Nd2 Ba6 19.Nc4 Qc5 20.Ne3 Qe7 21.Rd1 Rad8 22.Nxd5 exd5 23.Qc6 Bxe2 24.Rxd5 Rxd5 25.Qxd5 c5 26.Re1 Bg4 27.Rc1 Rc8 28.Qc4 h5 29.Bd5 Qd7 30.Re1 Rd8 31.e6 fxe6! 32.Bxe6+ Bxe6 33.Rxe6 Qf7 34.h4 Rf8 35.Qe2 Qf3 36.Qxf3 Rxf3 37.Re5 c4 38.Rxa5 Rb3 39.Rc5 Rxb2 40.Rxc4 Kf7 41.Kg2 b3 42.Rb4 g6?! 43.Kf3 Ra2 44.Rxb3 Rxa4 45.Re3 Kf6 46.Re4 Ra3+ 47.Kf4 Ra2 48.f3 Ra5 49.Rc4 Rf5+ 50.Ke3 Re5+ 51.Re4 Ra5 52.Rf4+ Kg7 53.Rc4 Ra6 54.Rc5 Kf6 55.Rd5 Ra3+ 56.Ke4 Ra6 57.Rd4 Re6+ 58.Kf4 Ra6 59.Rb4 Rc6 60.g4 hxg4 61.Kxg4 Rc5 62.Rb6+ Kg7 63.Re6 Kf7 64.Re4 Ra5 65.f4 Ra1 66.Re3 Kf6 67.Rb3 Rg1+ 68.Rg3 Ra1 69.Rg2 Rb1 70.Rh2 Rg1+ 71.Kf3 Kf5 72.h5 gxh5 73.Rxh5+ Kf6 74.Ra5 Rf1+ 75.Ke3 Re1+ 76.Kf2 Rb1 77.Kg3 Rg1+ 78.Kf3 Rf1+ 79.Kg4 Rg1+ 80.Kf3 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Koneru,H2600Hou,Y2578½–½2011E06WCh w1
Hou,Y2578Koneru,H2600½–½2011C42WCh w2
Koneru,H2600Hou,Y25780–12011D38WCh w3
Hou,Y2578Koneru,H2600½–½2011C80WCh w4
Hou,Y2578Koneru,H2600½–½2011C80WCh w5
Koneru,H2600Hou,Y25780–12011D38WCh w6
Hou,Y2578Koneru,H26001–02011C92WCh w7
Koneru,H2600Hou,Y2578½–½2011D38WCh w8

Final score

Players
Rating
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Total
Perf.
+/–
Hou Yifan
2578
½
½
1
½
½
1
1
½
5.5
2736
+18
Koneru Humpy  
2600
½
½
0
½
½
0
0
½
2.5
2442
–18

Remaining schedule

The match is over, the winner is known, the final two games will not be played. The closing ceremony will be held as scheduled on the 30th of November. Until then the players have a few days to explore Tirana and Albania.

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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