16-year old Hou Yifan (侯逸凡), who was profiled in this blog as the
Youngest Woman to Attain the Title of Chess Grandmaster Ever, has just won the
2010 Women's World Chess Championship in Hatay, Turkey, December 2-24, thereby becoming the youngest woman to become world champion in chess history.
 |
| Hou Yifan with World Chess Federation president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov |
Hou Yifan entered the 64-player knockout tournament as the third highest ranked woman player in the world, with
an FIDE rating of 2602. As in the 2008 tournament, Hou faced in the semi-final round Humpy Koneru of India, the highest rated player in the tournament and number 2 among all women after Judit Polgar of Hungary. Again as in 2008 Hou prevailed over Koneru, and advanced to the final round against fellow countrywoman Ruan Lufei (阮露斐).
Ruan had a surprisingly strong tournament performance, given her fourth rank among the Chinese women at the championship and her status as a full-time doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, leaving her less time to study chess than her competitors. To get to the final, Ruan had to fight exceptionally hard in every round, having to play a 2-game tiebreaker each time. In the third round she defeated world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, who had gained the crown in 2008 by beating Hou Yifan in the final. In the final round, again Ruan tied the score against her opponent, leading to another tie-breaker. This time, however, Hou Yifan prevailed in tie-breaker, thus becoming the fourth Chinese women world champion of chess. Previous Chinese world champions were: Xie Jun (谢军), 1991-1996 and 1999-2001; Zhu Chen (诸宸), 2001-2004; and Xu Yuhua (许昱华), 2006 to 2008.
 |
| Ruan Lufei, Hou Yifan, & Zhao Xue |
At Title Event, Asian Women Pursue World Domination, so states the title of Dylan Loeb McClain's
New York Times article. McClain suggests that the Women's World Chess Championship "provided more evidence of a shift in the balance of power in the women’s game to Asia from Eastern Europe." The sport had been dominated by women players in Eastern Europe, particularly the Soviet Union and its successor states, including Georgia and Russia. At the 2010 championship, however, four of the quarter-finalists were from China, and two from India, leaving Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine as the only survivor from Eastern Europe. In the semi-final round, three Chinese women (Hou, Ruan, and Zhao Xue 赵雪) and Humpy Koneru of India were left.
During her interview by
Southern Metropolis Daily (南方都市报) [ch], Hou Yifan stated that her idol is Xue Jun, for being successful both in chess and in life: Xie earned a Ph.D. in psychology, and has just been
appointed vice-president of Capital Institute of Physical Education (首都体育学院) [ch]. Since age 13 Hou has been represented by Beijing Starz International Sports Management Co. (众辉体育), a global sports marketing and management company the clients of which include Yao Ming (姚明), Steve Nash, star snooker champion Ding Junhui (丁俊晖), and China's most successful male swimmer Zhang Lin (张琳). Since Hou decided to pursue a career in chess at age seven, her mother gave up her own career and moved with her from their home in Jiangsu to Shandong so that Yifan could study at a chess academy and then to Beijing when Yifan became the youngest member of the national team. Two years ago Hou's father also gave up his job and moved to Beijing so that the family could be together. Despite anticipated prize earnings and bonuses from the government and a foundation following her victory at the world championship, Hou Yifan and her family will still be unable to afford buying a house in Beijing.
