In spite of Koneru’s valiant effort, Hou Yifan held to advance to the final. She will face the winner of the Zhao – Ruan playoff tomorrow.
Top draw
Ruan, Lufei CHN WGM 2480 1/2 / 1/2 (Playoff tomorrow)
Zhao, Xue CHN GM 2474
Bottom Draw
Hou, Yifan CHN GM 2591 1-0 / 1/2 (Advanced to the final)
Koneru, Humpy IND GM 2600
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Hou Yifan looks so much more mature than 2008. Congrats!
Hou Yifan have play soo strong i no
doubt she will be the youngest women
too wins worls champ.
She only 16.Granmaster Magnus Carlsen you get the pleasure of meeting her soon ore later!
Knightonranden
& maybe a youngest ever world champion !!!
Wow! Good job, Yifan. She really has a bright future.
Poor Humpy.
I am curious what the chinese coaches will do now. Ruan has no coach but what if Zhao advances to the final? I bet they all want Yifan to win it all.
Will the chinese fix the finals?
This is a travesty !
At least the semis should be decided on more than 2 games! The whole tournament looks like a lottery with one lucky/unlucky hour deciding things.
Of course, I am sad about the semi result which just happened (so can guess my choice) but it applies generally. The fans of the winner today will exactly show the same angst I do now, if 1 or 2 matches go against her!!
Where is Yifan’s hair clips? She is not a little girl anymore. Let’s call her young woman?
This is not the first time that Hou defeated Humpy. Humpy lost to Hou in the last championship as well. You may say one time is unlucky, but twice means somethings. Hou is better than Humpy for sure. This is sports. You need to hold your nerve at the important time.
I am a huge fan of Koneru. However, I did not like the choice of the berlin defence in the first game. The berlin, though drawish, requires a lot of technical expertise to draw on the black side. Nakamura, Kramnik (renowned expert), all have suffered. Koneru is a brilliant chess player but she was way too passive in her opening choice.
Hou, on the other hand, demonstrated, through her play, that she was more eager. Congrats to Hou Yifan for playing actively to draw even if she could have chosen calmer channels.
Best wishes.
P.S. It will be a tough winter break indeed.
Sadly for Koneru, she has lost 3 WWCC semi-finals, in 2004, 2008 and now 2010.
Look at this nice page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_World_Chess_Championship_2010
“Impressive performance by Hou; her Bishop sac in the first game was nice and instead of passively defending her lead with Black in the second, she gave two pawns for the initiative – that’s what we expect from a champ!”
Yes, it is sad (for some!), but it is true. Yifan definetely has a great record against Humpy.
Yifan Hou beat Koneru Humpy 7 to 2, with 5 draws.
I am guessing KH needs a better/aggressive coach to move to the next level now. Just too passive.
Thank God we’ll have a new legitimate Chess Queen and not some ego maniac phony from Russia.
How can she be so good at her age!
Anonymous at 6:24 p.m. – oh really. Your comment is totally uncalled for and, actually, quite stupid, which shows a complete lack of knowledge about Kosteniuk’s chess record. Get a life, heh? Personally, I believe that Koneru is a better chessplayer than Hou, but it takes an extremely strong person to withstand the psychological pressure of knowing you are facing “3 against 1” and do not have the full backing of your home country’s chess federation.
Jan Newton
Goddesschess.com
Actually, Humpy lost 4 WCC semifinals: 2002 to a Chinese player, 2006 to a Russian player and 2008/2010 to Yifan.
HYifan could have played on and won the second game but she accepted Humpy’s draw offer. This girl has both guts and grace. I am really impressed.
Anonymous, what Jan is trying to tell you is that Koneru seems to lack the necessary tools that are quite important given this environment and stage. There was an open feud with her own country. Vishy himself was declared not Indian simply because he plays more chess in Europe (Spain). Vishy, of all people. Let me say, it is not the whole country, but the thought of if is annoying and disrespectful.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/chess/Anands-Indian-citizenship-questioned/articleshow/6424970.cms
I love India (producing lots of intellectuals). I particularly love their foods and women. (what can I say, I’m Kenny G) lol
India does not have a good track record in supporting even the brightest of stars such as Anand.
Read the link above.
Koneru did not win the world championship, but I will continue to write poetically about her and chess.
http://ptionvlloi.blogspot.com/
Until Humpy’s possessive father stops sticking to her like a leech and agrees to get her a top coach,i’m afraid Humpy will just remain another wannabe champ whose potential was not fully tapped.
Hi Kenny G,
You have great poetry there, hats off. You seem to have a very interesting personality. I too was saddened by Humpy’s loss, she is such a simple and humble girl. You would always want to cheer for her. She is a brilliant chess player and am sure, one day she will win the World Championship.
All the best to Humpy for her future.
The final position was simply won for black with the continuation of 45. … Rb6+ to trade the rook and move the f and h pawns. White has simply no resisitance.
DV Sunder, FIDE vice president from India will be very happy now
“Actually, Humpy lost 4 WCC semifinals: 2002 to a Chinese player, 2006 to a Russian player and 2008/2010 to Yifan”
2002 WCC won by Zhu Chen; Koneru didn’t not feature in the last 8.
In 2006, Koneru lost in the 2nd round.
As mentioned before, Koneru has lost 3 WWCC semi-finals, in 2004, 2008 and now 2010.
“I am curious what the chinese coaches will do now. Ruan has no coach but what if Zhao advances to the final? I bet they all want Yifan to win it all.”
China has 4 coaches at the WWCC, to prepare all 8 players for the Championship. Even before arriving in Turkey, Ruan was trained via internet by the coaches.
In the case of Zhao vs Ruan, they will have to prepare the game themselves, not aided by coaches.
“Hi Kenny G,
You have great poetry there, hats off. You seem to have a very interesting personality.”
Thank you anonymous. Your compliments are well taken. It is indeed a tough loss for Koneru. And if she, somehow, (out of a snowball’s chance in hell) reads this infantile poem to her, she might just smile a bit.
Such is the power of a fan…
I hated to see MJ, Federer lose, though rare. My heart was ready to pop out at the thrilling game 7 Lakers vs Celtics.
I am a huge fan of the Polgar sisters (even have Judit’s the Princess of Chess book), but I grew up watching Judit Polgar and I love her style, wit and she’s beautiful (but she’s taken lol). But Koneru remains my all time favorite woman’s chess player.
Now women’s chess needs to have fans like these just like “some” of the fake ones and money hungry ones do in Hollywood. Let’s support intellect over silly tabloids.
Best wishes…
http://ptionvlloi.blogspot.com/