In every game so far in this year's women's world championship, the player with the white pieces has underperformed relative to her rating. Fortunately for Hou Yifan, she has limited the damage to three draws in her white games; for Anna Ushenina, the champion for probably no more than another game or two, it has been catastrophic: three losses in three games, including today's. That brings the score to 4.5-1.5, and as the match is best-of-ten Hou needs but one more win or a pair of draws to regain the title she held from 2010-2012.