Hou Yifan
Tata Steel 2013 / Round 12
Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen is on a roll. He defeated (rather convincingly) Hikaru Nakamura today on the White side of a Sicilian – See Diagram.
This means that Carlsen has effectively won the tournament with a round to spare; no one can catch him.
There just doesn’t appear to be any type of game that he doesn’t play well, and more importantly, seem completely comfortable doing so.
The World Champion Anand,won his game against L’Ami, Hou won her game against Sokolov and Van Wely won his game against Caruana who has now lost his second game in a row.
Click on Diagram to step through the game.
For the other decisive games of Round Twelve – See Comments.
Tata Steel 2013 / Round 9
Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen increased his lead at the expense of Yifan Hou in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Tournament of 2013. It went into a Queen ending, but I believe the result was never in doubt. Of interest is that earlier in the tournament, Carlsen played the White side of a Ponziani Opening. Here, he was on the Black side and seemed very comfortable throughout. As a matter of fact, Magnus appears comfortable in just about any style of game. Despite various wins by the other competitors, I see no one else who is ‘sailing along’ the way he is.
Click on the board to step through the game.
Tata Steel 2013 / Round 6
Yifan Hou
It was a fighting Sicilian / Dragon with a long tail – in fact the longest game of the round.
Nevertheless, Yifan Hou scored her first win of the tournament against Anish Giri.
In the final position (below) she, playing Black, is about to play Ra7 and Ra1. This will win White’s Bishop and game over.
Despite being the lowest rated player in the pack, Hou scored a win against an opponent well over 100 points higher.
Congratulations Yifan !
Click on the board to step through the game.
For the other decisive games of the round – See Comments.
Tata Steel 2013 / Round 1
First round had some fighting games – most were drawn – Except two.
I was particularly interested in the World Champion (Anand) versus the U.S. Champion (Nakamura).
It was a well played game (draw) – but perhaps better fighting results in the subsequent rounds.
Two wins today / both the White side of a French Defense.
The first (on the left) was Karjakin beating the former Women’s World Champion Yifan Hou – a well/hard fought game – arguably the best game of the round.
The second (on the right) was Harikrishna beating Giri – a well played Rook and Pawn ending.
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http://www.tatasteelchess.com/
Women’s World Championship Knockout 2012 / Rnd 2 / Final
The Favourites Fall
The top three seeds were eliminated including Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru.
This is a tough fighting tournament for all concerned.
See Comments.
Women’s World Championship Knockout 2012 / Rnd 2 Con’t
by National Life Master Loal Davis
Monica Socko (Poland)
Yifan Hou was unrecognizable in her second game versus Monica Socko of Poland – or more accurately, looked OK to a point, but Socko came back with strong centralization and knocked Hou flat. The two now go into tie-breaks.
Women’s World Championship Knockout 2012 / Rnd 2
by National Life Master Loal Davis
Round 3 featured another gem from Yifan Hou.
Click on the Diagram to step through the annotated game.
Women’s World Championship Knockout 2012 / Rnd 1
Yifan Hou
Yifan Hou, the current Women’s Champion, got off to a roaring start in the first round of the Knockout Championships. She played a very instructional White side of a French Defense that featured a nice sacrifice (Diagram) which Black dare not accept.
Unive Hoogeveen / Round 5
Yifan Hou “won” a psychological victory in drawing Hikaru Nakamura in the fifth round of Unive Hoogeveen. Hou looked comfortable and relatively in control, ending up two Pawns in a King and opposite colored Bishop ending.
Yifan Hou
Unive Hoogeveen / Round 4
The only decisive result in the fourth round of Unive Hoogeveen went to Tiviakov for his win against Hou. It was a rather lengthy Rook and Pawn ending that did not look very economical, but the win was not in doubt.
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Sergei Tiviakov |
Yifan Hou |
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