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Yifan Hou 
From Corus 2008, copyright © "lostemperor"  
Yifan Hou
Number of games in database: 364
Years covered: 2003 to 2009
Current FIDE rating: 2590
Overall record: +158 -87 =117 (59.8%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      2 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (75) 
    B42 B93 B83 B31 B30
 Ruy Lopez (54) 
    C78 C67 C84 C95 C60
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (27) 
    C84 C95 C92 C88 C86
 French Defense (19) 
    C11 C10 C18 C13 C15
 French (14) 
    C11 C10 C13
 Sicilian Kan (14) 
    B42 B43
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (52) 
    B84 B50 B90 B96 B63
 Nimzo Indian (22) 
    E32 E37 E46 E58 E21
 Queen's Indian (21) 
    E15 E12
 French Defense (19) 
    C11 C07 C18 C01 C13
 Queen's Pawn Game (16) 
    A46 E10 E00 A40
 Sicilian Scheveningen (13) 
    B84 B80 B83 B81 B85
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   J Smeets vs Yifan Hou, 2008 0-1
   Yifan Hou vs N Zhukova, 2006 1-0
   M Fierro-Baquero vs Yifan Hou, 2009 0-1
   Yifan Hou vs Sasikiran, 2009 1-0
   Yifan Hou vs V Laznicka, 2008 1-0
   Yifan Hou vs Short, 2008 1-0
   Van der Wiel vs Yifan Hou, 2007 0-1
   Yifan Hou vs K Mona, 2008 1-0
   Yifan Hou vs Vallejo-Pons, 2009 1-0
   J Plenca vs Yifan Hou, 2008 0-1

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Girl meets boy by englishplus
   Chinese Chess by notyetagm

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Yifan Hou
Search Google® for Yifan Hou


YIFAN HOU
(born Feb-27-1994) China

[what is this?]
Yifan Hou was born February 27, 1994 in Xinghua City, Jiangsu, China. She is the youngest female in the history of chess to acquire the GM title, and was the youngest GM in the world until displaced from that distinction by Russian GM Anish Giri as of 31 January 2009.

Yifan Hou started playing chess at age 6, and in 2003 she won the U10 Girls division of the World Youth Championships in Halkidiki, Greece. In 2004, she contested the Boys' U10 World Championship in Heraklio, Crete, placing third. She came fifth in the 3 Arrows Cup in 2005 in Jinan, recording a performance rating of nearly 2400. At the age of 12, she contested the FIDE Women's World Championship (2006) in Ekaterinburg, Russia, defeating Nadezhda Kosintseva and Natalia Zhukova in the first two rounds before falling to Nino Khurtsidze in the third round.

Yifan played in the 37th Chess Olympiad: Women (2006) on the Reserve Board (Board 4), winning the silver medal with 11/13 and a performance rating of 2596. She scored 9/12 in the World Junior Championship (Girls) (2006) and secured second place on countback behind Yang Shen. In June 2007 she broke through to win the Women's Chinese National Chess Championship in Chongqing city, a title she successfully defended in Beijing the following May. In 2008 she also won the Isbank Ataturk Women Masters (2008) outright by a clear point ahead of Pia Cramling, and came third in the World Junior Championship (2008) (for both sexes) behind Abhijeet Gupta and Parimarjan Negi . In 2009, Yifan came equal third in the 8th Asian Continental Chess Championship (2009) (open) with 7/11, half a point behind GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and GM Zhou Weiqi, qualifying her for the 2009 World Cup.

As a WFM, her rating topped 2500 in the January 2007 FIDE ratings before FIDE formally conferred her WGM title in late January 2007. Her results in the Aeroflot Open (2008) and the Isbank Ataturk Women Masters (2008) provided her with her first and second GM norms. She picked up her third GM norm in the World Junior Championship (2008) with a round to spare. Any lingering doubts about Yifan's GM norm from the Isbank Ataturk Masters were resolved when she acquired another GM norm upon defeating Koneru Humpy to reach the final of the Women's World Championship (2008) before losing the championship match against Alexandra Kosteniuk.

Yifan has been the top ranked girl since October 2008 (and the youngest in the top 20) in the world by a significant margin ahead of IM Anna Muzychuk and GM Kateryna Lahno. In FIDE's April 2009 lists, Yifan was rated 2590, ranking her third in the women's rankings after GMs Judit Polgar and Koneru Humpy. She currently resides with her mother in Beijing.


 page 1 of 15; games 1-25 of 364  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. Yifan Hou vs N Paikidze ½-½57 2003 WYCC - G10B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
2. Yifan Hou vs J Moussard 0-152 2004 Championnat du Monde -10B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
3. C Liang vs Yifan Hou  1-055 2005 World Team ChampionshipE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
4. Yifan Hou vs S Sjugirov ½-½94 2005 Belfort YWCC boys under 12B40 Sicilian
5. Yifan Hou vs R Fontaine ½-½67 2005 China - France Youth MatchC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
6. A Skripchenko-Lautier vs Yifan Hou 0-157 2005 3 Arrows CupB23 Sicilian, Closed
7. M Vachier Lagrave vs Yifan Hou 1-062 2005 China - France Youth MatchB63 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack
8. Yifan Hou vs I Krush 0-131 2005 3 Arrows CupB60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer
9. Yifan Hou vs I Novikov 0-163 2005 World Team ChampionshipB84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
10. Zhu Chen vs Yifan Hou ½-½55 2005 3 Arrows CupE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
11. Yifan Hou vs R Fontaine  ½-½63 2005 China - France Youth MatchB52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack
12. Yifan Hou vs W Arencibia 0-133 2005 World Team ChampionshipB42 Sicilian, Kan
13. Yifan Hou vs Negi ½-½40 2005 Belfort YWCC boys under 12B42 Sicilian, Kan
14. Yifan Hou vs M Vachier Lagrave  0-135 2005 China - France Youth MatchB42 Sicilian, Kan
15. Yifan Hou vs E Fakhiridou 1-036 2006 37th Chess Olympiad: WomenB93 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6.f4
16. Yifan Hou vs T Sachdev 1-033 2006 World Junior Championship (Girls)B42 Sicilian, Kan
17. Yifan Hou vs Zhu Chen  0-191 2006 North Urals CupC86 Ruy Lopez, Worrall Attack
18. Yifan Hou vs M Nepeina Leconte  0-150 2006 France vs ChinaC18 French, Winawer
19. Yifan Hou vs N Zhukova 1-032 2006 FIDE Women's World ChampionshipC26 Vienna
20. Yifan Hou vs Yang Shen  ½-½32 2006 Chinese ChampionshipsC78 Ruy Lopez
21. Yifan Hou vs J Majdan 1-067 2006 37th Chess Olympiad: WomenB93 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6.f4
22. B Mongontuul vs Yifan Hou 1-047 2006 World Junior Championship (Girls)B24 Sicilian, Closed
23. M Nepeina Leconte vs Yifan Hou 0-149 2006 France vs ChinaB70 Sicilian, Dragon Variation
24. Huang Qian vs Yifan Hou  ½-½26 2006 Chinese ChampionshipsE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
25. S Milliet vs Yifan Hou 0-124 2006 37th Chess Olympiad: WomenC01 French, Exchange
 page 1 of 15; games 1-25 of 364  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Yifan Hou wins | Yifan Hou loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 27 OF 27 ·  Later Kibitzing >
May-26-09   strategy11: yifan is now playing at the national championships; live coverage [http://live.chinaqiyuan.com/chess.h... ]. also several players at still in subic [http://chess-results.com/tnr22326.a... ] including YU YANGYI

www.playchess.com is relaying both tournaments, so thats good as i can run my engine automatically for all the possible games

May-27-09   flhoosier: wonder why there isn't any mention of yifan's father in the news or why he doesn't travel with her like her mother does?
May-27-09   s4life: <flhoosier: wonder why there isn't any mention of yifan's father in the news or why he doesn't travel with her like her mother does?>

One can say the same thing about Carlsen's mother right? why didn't you? AFAIK, he is a judge and probably doesn't have the time to do the chess touring thing

Jun-03-09   flhoosier: did i read this right, yifan lost her recent game because she was 5 seconds late to the board??? didn't know they were playing under rigid rules.
Jun-03-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  MaxxLange: someone said that FIDE rules call for a forfeit if you are at all late.....that seems awfully harsh to me
Jun-03-09   flhoosier: thank goodness the uscf hasn't picked up that rule.
Jun-03-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  amadeus: As stupid as stupid goes
Jun-07-09   Imposter: Was her tournament shattered because of the forfeit or is she simply outclassed by male GMs?
Jun-08-09   Zhijun: Imposter,I recommended you to read my former comment:

Jun-07-09 Zhijun: smaragdus:<but this is not the case with Hou Yifan, who is extremely overestimated and I think it was a bad idea that she participated in the men's tournament, she lacks the class and quality to play with men.> I can't agree with you.

Firstly, Hou Yifan is not extremely overestimated,only DingLiren and YuYangyi etc.are underrestimated.Maybe You don¡¯t know that,Hou had already won the last three Chinese women champs in a row with Serious and great Advantage,and She is the top ten rating of China now,as rules she have the qualification to participate CC2009.Hou absolutely is the nightmare of other girl players,so she cannot participate the women events at least in China anymore, which will be unfair to the other girls or ladies.

Secondly,objectively,one event cannot lead to a final conclusion.Hou is just not in a form at this event ,That¡¯s all.Let us look back what happened in the last three months:

April:Ding and Yu both were disqualified the zonal,Both got 5/11,both lost 4 Games,Ding lost toWangHao,LiChao,GaoRui,WenYang;Yu Lost to LiChao,ZhouJianchao,ZhouWeiqi,XuJun.So,according- - to your opinion,Ding and Yu are both extremely overestimated and lack the class and quality to play .

May: DingLiren, YuYangyi and Hou Yifan all participated 8th Asian Chapm,Yu and Hou both were qualified for WCC2009,both got 7.5/11,Yu got 3rd£¬Hou got 7th, according to your opinion,Hou and Yu are both extremely underestimated and have the class and quality to play;and Ding only got 6/11,disqualified again.

End of May: DingLiren and Hou Yifan participated CC2009,as you know,Ding won champ,got8.5/11,Hou got 3.5/11( at most 4.5/11,evan not forfeited),as you said, DingLiren were extremely underestimated and Hou was extremely overestimated and lack the class and quality to play.So,who are underestimated or overestimated on earth??Judged by which event or which standard??

Finally,especially for the youngsters,such as Ding is 17,Yu and Hou is only 15,they are inconsistent and instable,so we must be patient to watch them longer,if they work hard and have excellent coaches,they will have good future,or will be a mere flash in the pan.

Jun-08-09   Zhijun: mindanalyzer: Is she a girl for sure? I know that it is customary for Chinese officials to cheat in sport events (remember the underage female gymnasts in the Olympics) so I wouldn’t be surprise if "she" was a guy after all

CNN said Hou Yifan is not fifteen,she is fifty,Maybe Chinese Goverment ask E.T. to make Hou look like 15 Because mindanalyzer know that it is customary for Chinese officials to cheat in sport events.

Jun-08-09   Imposter: <Zhijun>

Thanks for your thoughts. I hope she continues to improve.

Jun-08-09   Imposter: <Zhijun>

Do you think the forfeit may have upset her tournament?

Jun-09-09   kurtrichards: I'm no Chinese but to say that "it is customary for Chinese officials to cheat in sports events" is most unfair and irresponsible. If the sole argument is the "underage female gymnast in the olympics, then what has it to do with Miss Hou?
Jun-09-09   flhoosier: i believe that the forfeit did upset her playing.
Jun-09-09   Zhijun: Zhijun: Imposter: <Zhijun> ¡¶Do you think the forfeit may have upset her tournament?¡·

I think the forfeit may have upset her a little,but not much.

Usally Hou can recover from the loss quickly,But this she was not in form at all.So forfeit or not didn't matter.

Jun-09-09   Imposter: <Zhijun>

Probably right. Although she did well in the last tournament, qualifying for the World Cup, she crashed in this one.

It is reminiscent of Shirov winning M-Tel and then losing the first four games of the 10th Karpov Tournament (2009) in Moscow.

Jun-09-09   Zhijun: kurtrichards:< I'm no Chinese but to say that "it is customary for Chinese officials to cheat in sports events" is most unfair and irresponsible. If the sole argument is the "underage female gymnast in the olympics, then what has it to do with Miss Hou?>

The argument about underage female gymnast in the olympics dosn't make any sense,because it was verified that some American medias started a rumourmongering campaign just after the American gymnast team couln¡¯t take the gold medals which were considered belong to them absolutely(If the Americans won the Gold,there was no any campaign probably even Chinese may really cheated) .And then soon after overall investigation,IOC verified that the age of all Chinese gymnasts were legal for the Olympics.(You can goto the website of IOC or google for the details of this investigation)

In Fact.The truth is that it is customary for any person to cheat in sports events or other fields in the world. We can saw Ben Johnson of Canada cheated;Mario Jones of USA cheated and jailed;NBA referees of USA cheated and jailed;Juventus soccer club of Italy cheated and fined and degraded directly; The first recorded doping death occurred in 1886 when the cyclist Linton overdosed on tri-methyl during a race;Thomas Hicks cheated and won Gold in 1896,Athens(First person won olympics gold with cheating) ;Knud Jasen of Denmark cheated and died under his bike on the race lane in 1960,Rome( first person died of cheating in olympics in history);Even the most famous and greatest athletes,The greatest American idol: CARL LEWIS was verified that he had been doped most of races,why nobody caght him?Please remember USA is leader in medical technology and almost all fields,so IOC failed to found him doping until 23,April,2003,He admit his doping and Olympic committee of America helped him to conceal and unreport¡­.etc.(you can google for details.)

Of cause there are some cheating and doping in China, But who¡¯s first cheater,who cheated and is cheating more,If you are a objective person,you can draw a right conclusion except that you don¡¯t want to like <mindanalyzer>..

Jun-09-09   kurtrichards: <Zhijun> That is why when someone post here that "it is customary for Chinese offials to cheat in sports events", I reacted that the statement was most unfair and irresponsible. In your list of cheaters, there is no Chinese there. As regards the gymnast who allegedly cheat on her age, it was proven that her age was correct. And what about Miss Hou, she is a girl. She is fifteen years old and not fifty according to someone here. What an insult. Btw, maybe someone should go to the website or google for details but not me. LOL
Jun-09-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  SirChrislov: Sad news for Yifan. she just lost the final game of the Chinese championship. reason: showing up 5 seconds late!!! insane rule.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail...

also:

Carlsen vs Yifan Hou, 2008
the kibitzing is hilarious!

Jun-09-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  SirChrislov: correction to my last post. it was not the final but a round 8 game she lost by default.

my apologies.

I err, therefore I am. -Tartakower

Jun-09-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Ken MacGillivray: To SirChrislove; well you didn't err in your claim that she lost to an insane rule. The bizarre zero forfeit rule was a brainwaive of the FIDE President but despite a disastrous and unpopular test run at the 2008 Dresden Olympics, the new rule was approved by compliant FIDE officials earlier mthis year.
Jun-09-09   Zhijun: <kurtrichards>
Sorry to make you misunderstood my kibitz.

<If you are a objective person,you can draw a right conclusion except that you don¡¯t want to like <mindanalyzer>..>

"YOU" in this sentence means any person who are not just and objectively,but not you,I apology for the understanding because of my broken English.

<Of cause there are some cheating and doping in China> Btw, I don't mentioned the Chinese cheater's name because they are obscure,even I pointed out them,you would probably forget them immediately,but You will remember CARL LEWIS ,Ben Johson,Maria,Jones, that's all.

If you want,I can give some names of Chinese cheater,I hope you can remember them,:-) Ouyan Kunpeng,Wu Yanyan,Swimming;
Gao Xiaoning,cyclist;
Yin Lili,Song Liqing,Liu Yunfeng,Cui Danfeng,Zhou Wei,Yang Chunlei,Liu Jing,LiJi,athletes; and ETC.

If you know Chinese,you can google for more and more cheaters.:-)

Jun-09-09   Manic: <Ken MacGillivray>

Did you take that from the SMH in Sydney? =D

Indeed that is correct. For those interested I believe Kirsan decided to trial it after he had to wait for his opponent and proceeded to lose.

Jun-11-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Ken MacGillivray: <Manic> You are absolutely correct; these were the words of GM Ian Rogers but they expressed my views perfectly, except Ian put it more succinctly and better than I could have.
Jun-21-09   Manic: <Ken MacGillivray> It wouldn't be surpising if that view was shared by almost all chess players.

It was from Rogers' column last year I found out that when and why Kirsan introduced it as well (Rogers' showed the same disdain for it then as he does now)

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