Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan (Chinese侯逸凡, Hou Yifan, born February 27, 1994, Xinghua, Jiangsu Province ) is a Chinese chess player and from 2010 to 2012 and since 2013 Chess World Champion.
Chess successes
She won at the 2003 World Championships of girls under 10 years old the first place and the following year in the same age group in the boys third place. In her winning the Chinese Women's Championship 2007, she was 13 years old, the youngest winner in the history of this competition. In March 2008, she won the Ataturk International Women Masters in Istanbul with 7 points from 9 games. In August 2008, she attracted special attention since they renounced as a 14- year-olds in the World Youth Championship ( U20) to participate in the girls tournament and instead played in the juniors against male competition. She reached 9 points from 13 games and ended up tied with four other players ranked 3-7. The scoring Elo performance of 2661 brought her a second grandmaster norm. The first they had reached at the Moscow Aeroflot Open.
At the Chess Olympiad 2008 she played on top board of the Chinese women's team, scoring 7.5 points from 11 games. In April 2010, Hou Yifan won the 3rd Kuala Lumpur International Open Chess Championship with 7.5 points out of 9 rounds.
Having previously held the title of a woman grandmaster, they reached in September 2008 at the age of 14 years, 6 months and 2 days at the Women's World Championship, the third norm for the general Grandmaster title that you at the 79th FIDE Congress during the Chess Olympiad was officially awarded in Dresden. Thus, she became the youngest ever winner of this title. At the same time it was in place of Wesley So recently for a few months ( male) Grand Master at all, until it was replaced in this category by Anish Giri, who scored his third GM norm in February 2009. When Tradewise Chess Festival in Gibraltar she scored 8 points over 10 games a Elo performance of 2872 and was beaten only in a playoff to win the tournament by two blitz games with 0.5-1.5 against Nigel Short. In this tournament she also managed a win against Judit Polgár.
Your Elo rating is 2629 (as of November 2013). This places it at # 2 on the FIDE world ranking list for women ( behind Judit Polgar ) and # 1 in the world ranking of junior women.
Training is Hou Yifan of the Chinese grandmasters Ye Jiangchuan and Yu Shaoteng.
World Chess Champion
In the Women's World Championship 2008 in Nalchik Hou turned in the semifinals after tie-break from the favorite K. Humpy, but lost the final to Alexandra Kosteniuk with 2.5 to 1.5. When discharged in Antakya in December 2010 Women's World Cup semi-final she turned in the Elo favorite Humpy K. with 1.5:0.5 and defeated in the final of her compatriot Ruan Lufei 5-3. This makes it the thirteenth and youngest world chess champion.
In 2011 she won the Grand Prix tournaments for women in Rostov-on- Don in August and Shenzhen in September, each with 8 points from 11 games. In the World Chess Cup 2011, she retired in the first round with 0-2 against Sergei Movsesjan. In November 2011, she defended her world title in Tirana by a 5,5:2,5 against K. Humpy. In July 2012, Hou Yifan won the Grand Prix tournament in Jermuk with 7 points from 11 games, thus securing clinched the victory in the Grand Prix Ranking 2011/2012.
At the 2012 World Championships in Khanty- Mansiysk, which was held with 64 players in the knockout system, Hou Yifan surprisingly different in the second round against Monika Socko from. New world champion Anna was Uschenina. Their Grand Prix victory Hou Yifan had already qualified for the next race for the world title. In September 2013, she made Uschenina in Taizhou from with 5,5:1,5 ( 4 = 3 -0 ).