Ruan Lufei started her final match with Hou Yifan the right way, drawing the first game with Black, but part two of the plan - winning with White - was unsuccessful. There was nothing wrong with the start, as Ruan had a promising position out of the opening, but the advantage ebbed away. Later, Hou played very adeptly in the rook and bishop vs. rook and knight ending to reach a winning rook ending, which she converted to victory. If she can win with White in the next game, the match is over and she will be the women's world champion.
Meanwhile, the Russian Championship is becoming a great success for Sergey Karjakin. He defeated Evgeny Tomashevsky while his main rivals all drew, and now he leads with 7/10 with one round to go. Ian Nepomniachtchi is in second with 6.5, and Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler have 6 points apiece. Further good news for Karjakin is that his rating is now over 2780, and if he wins in the last round he will pass Vladimir Kramnik to reach fourth place on the list. Very impressive!