Women's World Championship: Hou Yifan Leads 4-2

Thanks to her win in game 6, Hou Yifan needs just three draws in the remaining four games to retain her title. It could have been different today, as Humpy Koneru found a promising pawn sac against the Ragozin. In return she had two very strong bishops, and soon she regained the pawn while maintaining her other advantages. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't figure out what to do with her bishops once she regained the pawn, and soon her pleasant edge transformed into a lost position. Over the next dozen or so moves Koneru completely lost the thread, moving her bishops back and forth without accomplishing anything, while Hou made serious progress by posting her bishop on the terrific c6 square and seizing control over the e-file with her rooks. Soon Hou regained her extra pawn, and then, in a position that was already pretty bad, White uncorked back-to-back blunders with 36.Bc3?? Ne4 (36...Ng4! was more accurate) 37.Rge1??, giving Hou a choice between two forced mates. She chose the faster one, starting with 37...Ng3+, and after 38.hxg3 Rh5+ White resigned in view of 39.Kg1 Rxg2+ 40.Kf1 Rh1#.

It was good defense by the champion, but a surprisingly bad middlegame by Koneru, who just drifted away despite her excellent novelty and a big lead on the clock. Can she recover, or will this be the third match she loses to her Chinese rival in a world championship competition?*

Event site here.

* Hou defeated Koneru in the semi-finals of the knockout championship events in 2008 and 2010.

Women's World Championship, Game 2: Another Draw

And again, one where challenger Humpy Koneru had the better chances, despite playing Black. Or maybe because of it, thanks to a very interesting novelty. Hou Yifan played the 5.Nc3 line against the Petroff, and after 5...Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2, Humpy uncorked the excellent 8...Qe8! After 9.0-0-0 Qa4 (the point!) Black's attacking possibilities at least as strong as White's, and just a few moves later the champion swapped queens and headed for a draw. There was some danger she wouldn't succeed, but after sweating it out to move 42 she saved her half point. 1-1.

Match site here, the game (with my brief comments) here.

Women's World Championship, Game 1: Humpy Koneru Presses But Doesn't Win

World champion Hou Yifan had a very difficult time today against Humpy Koneru. With White, the challenger enjoyed a serious initiative for a long time in an Open Catalan, but couldn't quite push the champ over the edge. Only a draw, but it was still a psychologically promising start for the Indian grandmaster.

Official site here, game (with my light notes) here.

Hou Yifan vs. Humpy Koneru: The Women's World Championship Starts Today

Women's World Champion Hou Yifan will have the black pieces in game one (of ten) against her challenger, Humpy Koneru. Play begins today - Monday - at 3 p.m. local time in Tirana, Albania. (That's also 3 p.m. CET; 9 a.m. ET in the USA.) Official site here.

Women's Grand Prix: Koneru Ties for First, Earns Title Match

Very impressive! Humpy Koneru won when it counted, and everything else went just so for her to tie for first in the Women's Grand Prix tournament in Qatar and qualify for a world championship match later this year against Hou Yifan.

Coming into the last round, she was tied with Marie Sebag for second in the tournament, half a point behind Elina Danielan. Koneru needed to finish tied for first, but with no more than one of her two rivals. On paper it didn't look good at all: while she was facing a tail-ender, Zhu Chen, she would had Black. Further, Danielan was also facing a tailender, but with White, while Sebag, though Black, was facing the second lowest-rated player in the tournament. And yet it all worked out: Danielan was quickly held to a draw by Antoaneta Stefanova, Koneru won, and after a long struggle Sebag overpressed and lost.

By tying for first, Koneru leapfrogged Nana Dzagnidze and came in second in the overall Grand Prix standings, thus qualifying for a match against the World Champion. Why didn't the first place finisher qualify instead? That's because she - Hou Yifan - is already the World Champion. When they play, it will be their third match in a world championship, but their first world championship match in a proper sense. In the last two k.o. events, they played in the semi-finals, with Hou winning both times. Those were mini-matches; this time around they'll play 10 games, probably in or around August or September.