Yifan inexplicably chose to get into a very sharp game when she only needed a draw to win the Women’s World Championship. Just as in past games, Lufei misplayed her position to let her advantage disappear and to allow Yifan back into the game. However, a few inaccurate moves by Black allowed White to regain the momentum. This time, Lufei capitalized on her good position to even up the match. The match is now tied at 2-2. They will go into the playoff to decide the title.
Ruan, Lufei (2480) vs. Hou, Yifan (2591)
Women’s World Championship (game 4)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 7. h4 Nc6 8. Rg1 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Bg2 Qe5+ 12. Be3 Qh2 13. f4 Bd7 14. Qd2 Nxd4 15. O-O-O Bc5 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 O-O-O 18. Qc4+ Kb8 19. Qe4 Bc8 20. h5 Ka8 21. a4 Rd5 22. Rdf1 Qh4 23. Qc4 Rd7 24. a5 Qd8 25. a6 Qa5 26. Kb1 Kb8 27. axb7 Bxb7 28. Bxb7 Rxb7 29. Qd4 Ka8 30. Rf3 Rhb8 31. b3 f6 32. Rd1 Qb4 33. Qe3 Rb6 34. Rd4 Qe7 35. Qd3 R6b7 36. Re3 Re8 37. Rd6 e5 38. fxe5 fxe5 39. Re4 Qc7 40. Rd5 Qb8 41. Rc4 Rf8 42. Kb2 Qe8 43. Rdc5 Qe6 44. Qe4 Kb8 45. Rxe5 Qf6 46. Rc6 Qf7 47. Rf5 1-0
I wish it were an off play. For every round the loser must take a clothing item off. Strip chess will win.
Not with those Chinese ladies fantasy man!
This is really indicative of the Fide WCC cycle. That a player with um…mediocre stats is in the final is almost laughable. Like many of the FIDE mens champions in the 90’s..(Ponomariov, Shabalov,,,and I dont remember the other dudes name..)Its a lottery ….anyone could win..does it mean they deserve the title as the best?! I doubt it. Everyone knows the best female player on the planet is Judit Polgar. These “Championships” are mostly paper.
Yifan should be complimented for going into a Sicilian… She almost won the championship after blunting the opponent’s advantage and equalizing but she herself committed some mistakes later and lost.
But from this result, the match has become interesting.
Let us get the fact straight. No one stripped Judit Polgar from being FIDE womens Champion. As a matter of fact she was invited to participate in every WWCC because of her live rating at the time of determining WWCC participants. It was merely her own choice to not participate WWCC. Even if the system changes back to traditional 13 round games, she will still decline it.
“Not with those Chinese ladies fantasy man!”
I’m a girl!
Ruan Lufei has mediocre stats (true, recently) because she is not even a professional player! She plays chess when she doesn’t have to work as hard as a student. She played in 2001 including a win over Zhu Chen, at age 13 or 14. Then she didn’t play again until 2006 after she had gotten into university. She stopped in 2008 and is now playing again after getting into US grad school at Carnegie Mellon. But she is very talented.