Battle of the Chess Queens

Mariya Muzychuk (Ukrainian player, born September 21, 1992) is the 15th Women’s World Champion.

Maria was born in the family of professional chess trainers, Natalia and Oleh Muzychuk. She started playing chess at age of 2 and participated in the first chess tournament at age of 5. Maria has an older sister, Anna Muzychuk, who is also one of the leading chess players.

She was granted the title of Grandmaster after her victory in the 2015 Women’s World Chess Championship, which was held from March 17 to April 7, 2015 in Sochi, Russia.

Two-time champion of Ukraine (2012, 2013). As a member of the Ukrainian national women’s team, winner of the World Team Championship in Astana (2013) and European Championship in Warsaw (2013), bronze medalist in the World Chess Olympiads (Istanbul 2012 and Tromso 2014).

She made it to the top-16 in the 2010 Women’s World Chess Championship, but lost to Harika Dronavalli in an Armageddon playoff after a tie in the regular match.

World Champion Title:

In the first round of Women’s World Championship in Sochi, she drew with Yuanling Yuan (Canada) in the classical games and then defeated her in the tiebreaks.

In the second round, she drew with Monika Socko (Poland) in the classical games and defeated her also in the tiebreaks.

In the third round, she eliminated former Women’s World Chess Champion Antoaneta Stefanova in the classical games by a score of 1½–½. In the quarter-final she outplayed number one seed Humpy Koneru (India) in the tiebreaks (2½–1½), and then beat Harika Dronavali (India) in the semi-final by tiebreaks (3½–2½). In the final she won against Natalia Pogonina (Russia) with a score of 2½–1½.

As a result of her victory, she qualified for the 2015 Chess World Cup to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan. She was paired with British GM Michael Adams. She held Adams to a draw in the first game but lost the second one.

She is expected to defend her title against former World Women’s Champion Hou Yifan in the Women’s World Chess Championship Match which will take place from 1^st to 18^th of March, 2016 in Lviv (Ukraine). As the winner of the Grand Prix, Hou Yifan is allowed to challenge Mariya Muzychuk.

http://lviv2016.fide.com

Hou Yifan (born February 27, 1994, in Xinghua, Taizhou, Jiangsu, China) is Chinese chess player, two-time Women’s World Chess Champion, the youngest ever to win the title, as well as the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of Grandmaster.

Hou Yifan started playing chess regularly at the age of 6, but was already fascinated with the game when she was 3 years old. Hou’s father, Hou Xuejian, a magistrate, often took his young daughter to a bookstore after dinner. He noticed that the little girl liked to stare at glass chess pieces behind the window. He later bought his daughter her first chess set. The 3-year-old was able to beat her father and grandmother after a few weeks. In 1999, her father engaged a chess mentor, IM Tong Yuanming, for his 5-year-old daughter. Tong later said that Hou was an unusual talent, showing “strong confidence, distinguished memory, calculating ability and fast reaction.” The young girl’s talent impressed many people.

In order to better support her chess career, her family relocated to Beijing in 2003. At the age of 12, she became the youngest ever player to participate at the FIDE Women’s World Championship (Yekaterinburg 2006) and at the Chess Olympiad (Torino 2006). In June 2007, she became China’s youngest ever National Women’s Champion.

She achieved the titles of Woman FIDE Master in January 2004, Woman Grandmaster in January 2007, and International Master in September 2008 by reaching the final of the Women’s World Championship.

In 2010, she became the youngest World Chess Champion in history (men’s and women’s!) by winning the Women’s World Championship in Hatay, Turkey at the age of 16.

Hou became a winner of Women Grand Prix 2010-2011 and defended her world champion title in the Women’s World Chess Championship Match against Koneru Humpy in Tirana (Albania) in November 2011.

In November 2012 she was surprisingly knocked out by Monika Socko in the second round of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2012.

As the winner of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2011–2012, Hou won the right to challenge Anna Ushenina in a 10-game match for the world title. Scheduled from September 10 to the 27th, the Women’s World Chess Championship 2013 was played in Taizhou, Jiangsu,China. She won the match in 7 games with a 5.5-1.5 score (+4 =3, TPR 2730) regaining her championship title.

Hou Yifan didn’t take part in the Women’s World Chess Championship 2015 and relinquished her title to Mariya Muzychuk.

Nevertheless, as the winner of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2013–14 she gained the right to participate in the World Championship match against current World Champion Maria Muzychuk from Ukraine.

Team competitions:

Hou Yifan contributed in success of the Chinese national women’s team which became three-time winner of the World Women Team Championships in 2007, 2009, 2011

At the 1st World Women’s Team Chess Championship in Yekaterinburg (Russia) in 2007, Hou was part of the winning China national team that also included Zhao Xue, Ruan Lufei, Shen Yang, and Huang Qian. Hou Yifan played on board two in every round and scored 7½/9 (+7 =1 -1), winning the gold medal for that board. Her performance rating was 2559.

In December 2011, Hou played for China in the Women’s World Chess Team Championship in Mardin, Turkey 2011. China became clear winner three points ahead of Russia.

At the 40th Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey from August 27 to September 10, 2012, Hou Yifan led the Chinese women’s chess team to a second place, silver medal. She, herself, won the gold medal for individual performance on board 1 with a 2645 TPR, 6.5/9 score (+4, =5). During the competition she was also presented with the Caissa Cup, which honors the female player with the best chess results during the year.

In January 2011, Hou Yifan was recognized as the best Sportsperson of the Year in China involved in a non-Olympic sport.

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