The stage for the 2010 Women’s World Championship is set. We have two Chess Queens on different paths.
On one corner, we have a young phenom, Hou Yifan, the future of chess China. On the other corner, we have a scholar who has been relatively inactive in chess to focus on obtaining her PhD.
Who will be the next Chess Queen of the world?
| Who will be the next Chess Queen? | |
| Hou, Yifan | |
| Ruan, Lufei | |
| pollcode.com |
|
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Ruan will be the new chess queen.
Ruan has better tracking record when play against Yifan in China. I guess Carnegie Mellon will give her extra scholarship after this tourney, hehe
^
Agree, if the games could get to the speed chess stage. She seems to calculate fast and find the right moves under time pressure.
Susan, I would like to know your opinion/prediction for the final after watching Ruan and Hou’s games during this tournament so far. Anyhow, you are the very high level professional while most people here are just fans.
Hou Yifan is the Asian Rapid Chess Champion – achieved at the recent Asian Games in China.
Hou is a very good rapid chess player too.
As a matter of fact, most of the Chinese girls are good at rapid chess. They haven’t lost to any non-Chinese players in the rapid games.
I have been watching Hou Yifan’s progress for 4 years now and met her when she came to Paris for the France-China match. For about a year and a half, her Elo rating has been more or less static so now it is about time she made a leap forward to the next level.
If she wins she’ll beat Chiburdanidze’s record as the youngest ever champion. And it will be difficult for Ruan to beat a difference of 120 points, particularly over a 4 game match.
Ruan has been played non-stop for 15 days now in this championship. She probably has played more games in the past 15 days than she had played all-year round because she is quite inactive due to school work. Finally she will get a much needed day off tomorrow before the finals.
If it only play classic games, it will be hard for Ruan to get in top 8, now she has high chance to become champion. good for her
Yifan is the clear cut favorite in the final. I believe that she’ll probably win the final convincingly.
I hope Ruan wins because she’s not ranked in the top 20 in world. In this system, you don’t have to be. You just have to get hot at the right time. This happens a lot in the NCAA College Basketball Championship. She will have every right to call herself the “New Chess Queen”
Suggestion box: when giving a Latin alphabet transliteration of a Chinese player’s name, could you also show the Chinese characters? It’s nice to see the name as it really is, so to speak. Also, I can’t always tell by looking at a transliteration what characters might comprise the name.
Its Hou Yifan this time. The scholar has to wait for another time. Hou has matured and I hope she is going to be the champion. Ruan is much admired for her achievement and especially her full time Phd and chess.
They are many full time scholars in chess – Sheng Yang is another example.
A win by Hou Yifan will do more to promote women chess. Ruan has resigned from Chinese Chess Association, quiting professional chess, to concentrate on her study.
On the contrary, Ruan will motivate chess among students because she will serve as the role model who can both be good at chess without neglecting studies.