Born on Feb. 27, 1994, in Xinghua, her name, according to ChessBase, is pronounced Ho-yee? Fan. “Chinese is a tonal language with pitch being used to distinguish different meanings. So you have to speak the first two syllables with a rising tone, as if you were asking a question. Also, friends call her Yifan, which is the equivalent of our first names.”
Hou was three (!!!) years old when she started playing chess. In June 2007, she became China’s youngest ever national women’s champion. In Sept. 2008, she became the youngest ever finalist for the women’s world championship title. She still holds the record for being the youngest ever player to participate at the FIDE women’s world championship, Yekaterinburg 2006, and at the Chess Olympiad, Torino 2006 — when she was 12.
She was 10 when she was admitted to the National Chess Center, an academy for young talented players from all over China, in Beijing. Chinese grandmasters Ye Jiangchuan and Yu Shaoteng are her trainers. She lives with her mother in Beijing and lists her interests as reading and studying. Her favorite chess player is Bobby Fischer.
Game of the week. Here is the rising star, in the first round of the recently concluded Dresden Olympiad, outclassing a former child prodigy in a sharp variation of the French Defense. GM Lubosh Kavalek annotates.
White: WGM Hou Yifan (China, 2578)
Black: WGM Valentina Golubenko (Croatia, 2273)
French Winawer
38th Chess Olympiad, Dresden 2008
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.h4 (One of the sharpest lines against the Winawer French besides 7.Qg4.) 7…Qc7 (After 7…Nbc6 8.h5 h6 9.Qg4 Rg8 10.Bd3 white is better, as played already in 1937 in the game L. Steiner-Koshnitzky.) 8.Nf3 (The pawn sacrifice 8.h5 cxd4 9.cxd4 Qc3+ 10.Bd2 Qxd4 11.Nf3 Qe4+ 12.Be2 Nf5 is not entirely clear.) 8…Nbc6 9.h5 h6 10.Bd3 Bd7 (Avoiding a trap: 10…cxd4 11.cxd4 Nxd4? 12.Nxd4 Qc3+ 13.Qd2! Qxa1 14.c3 Nc6 15.Nb3 winning the black queen.) 11.0-0 0-0-0 (11…c4 12.Be2 f6 was played before.) 12.a4 Nf5 (Black should have either attacked the center with 12…f6 or blocked it with 12…f5.) 13.Ba3 f6?! (Too late, but after either 13…cxd4 14.Bxf5 exf5 15.Bd6 Qb6 16.cxd4; or 13…c4 14.Bxf5 exf5 15.a5 Be6 16.Bd6 Qd7 17.a6 white is better.) 14.Bxc5 fxe5 15.dxe5 Qa5 (After 15…Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Qxe5 [On 16…Qxc5 17.Bxf5 exf5 18.Nf7 wins.] 17.Bxa7 Qxc3 18.a5 Bc6 19.Qg4 white has a clear edge.) 16.Bd4 (Consolidating, but Hou could have played the sharp 16.Bb4!? Nxb4 17.cxb4 Qxb4 18.Bxf5 exf5 19.Nd4 Rhe8 20.Re1 Be6 21.Rb1 with a powerful attack.) 16…g6? ( Trying to open files against the white king, black makes a fatal mistake.16…Rhf8 is better.) 17.hxg6 Rhg8 (After 17…Nce7 18.Nd2 Nxg6 19.Nb3 Qc7 20.Bxf5 exf5 21.e6 Bxe6 22.Bxh8 white should win.) 18.Bxf5! exf5 19.Nh4 Ne7 (19…Be8 is met by 20.Qh5!) 20.e6! (White opens the e-file and preserves the g-pawn.) 20…Bxe6 21.Qe2 Rd6 22.Qe5 Rc6 (After 22…Qc7 23.Qf6 Nc6 24.Rfe1 Nxd4 25.cxd4 Qg7 26.Qxg7 Rxg7 27.Re5 white has a decisive advantage.) 23.g7! Qc7 24.Qf6 f4 (After 24…Re8 25.Qxh6; or after 24…Rd8 25.Rfe1 Ng8 26.Qg6 wins.) 25.Rfe1 Qd7 26.Nf3 Ra6 27.Ne5 Qc7 (After 27…Qd8 28.Nd3! Qd6 29.Nc5 wins.) 28.Ng6 Nxg6 29.Rxe6 (White wins the black knight.) Black resigns.
Puzzler. Congratulations to Rene Dario for cracking last week’s four-mover: 1. Bf1 and the black pawn moves, 2. Ra5 and the black pawn moves again, 3.f5 Kxe4 and the White rook mates. Way to go Rene!
For this week, try this:
White — pawn on d2, Ka7, Bb5, Nc6, Bd6, Nf5, Rh5
Black — pawns on c5 and d3, Na6, Kd5
White to play and mate in three moves.
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