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Yifan Hou 
 
Yifan Hou
Number of games in database: 390
Years covered: 2003 to 2009
Current FIDE rating: 2585
Highest rating achieved in database: 2590
Overall record: +166 -93 =129 (59.4%)*
   * 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 (78) 
    B42 B93 B83 B31 B30
 Ruy Lopez (55) 
    C78 C95 C60 C67 C84
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (27) 
    C95 C84 C92 C88 C96
 French Defense (19) 
    C11 C10 C18 C15 C13
 Caro-Kann (16) 
    B18 B17 B10 B14 B19
 French (14) 
    C11 C10 C13
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (55) 
    B84 B50 B90 B96 B45
 Nimzo Indian (23) 
    E32 E37 E46 E58 E21
 Queen's Indian (22) 
    E15 E12
 French Defense (20) 
    C11 C07 C18 C01 C13
 Queen's Pawn Game (18) 
    A46 E10 E00 A40
 Sicilian Scheveningen (15) 
    B84 B80 B83 B81 B85
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   J Smeets vs Yifan Hou, 2008 0-1
   Yifan Hou vs Short, 2008 1-0
   Yifan Hou vs N Zhukova, 2006 1-0
   Yifan Hou vs Beliavsky, 2009 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
   Van der Wiel vs Yifan Hou, 2007 0-1
   Yifan Hou vs Vallejo-Pons, 2009 1-0
   J Plenca vs Yifan Hou, 2008 0-1

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Hou Yifan's SuperGM scalps by Blunderdome
   Girl meets boy by englishplus
   fasi2all's favorite games by fasi2all
   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 September 2009 lists, Yifan was rated 2585, 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 16; games 1-25 of 390  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. Yifan Hou vs N Paikidze ½-½57 2003 WYCC - G10B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
2. R Robson vs Yifan Hou  0-137 2004 Wch U10B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
3. Yifan Hou vs J Moussard 0-152 2004 Championnat du Monde -10B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
4. M Vachier Lagrave vs Yifan Hou 1-062 2005 China - France Youth MatchB63 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack
5. Yifan Hou vs I Krush 0-131 2005 3 Arrows CupB60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer
6. Yifan Hou vs I Novikov 0-163 2005 World Team ChampionshipB84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
7. Zhu Chen vs Yifan Hou ½-½55 2005 3 Arrows CupE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
8. Yifan Hou vs R Fontaine  ½-½63 2005 China - France Youth MatchB52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack
9. Yifan Hou vs W Arencibia 0-133 2005 World Team ChampionshipB42 Sicilian, Kan
10. Yifan Hou vs Negi ½-½40 2005 Belfort YWCC boys under 12B42 Sicilian, Kan
11. Yifan Hou vs M Vachier Lagrave  0-135 2005 China - France Youth MatchB42 Sicilian, Kan
12. C Liang vs Yifan Hou  1-055 2005 World Team ChampionshipE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
13. Yifan Hou vs S Sjugirov ½-½94 2005 Belfort YWCC boys under 12B40 Sicilian
14. Yifan Hou vs R Fontaine ½-½67 2005 China - France Youth MatchC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
15. A Skripchenko-Lautier vs Yifan Hou 0-157 2005 3 Arrows CupB23 Sicilian, Closed
16. Li Ruofan vs Yifan Hou  ½-½39 2006 Chinese ChampionshipsA33 English, Symmetrical
17. Yifan Hou vs Khurtsidze 0-155 2006 FIDE Women's World ChampionshipB11 Caro-Kann, Two Knights, 3...Bg4
18. Yifan Hou vs S Matveeva ½-½91 2006 North Urals CupC11 French
19. Yifan Hou vs E Kovalevskaya 1-067 2006 37th Chess Olympiad: WomenC99 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin, 12...cd
20. Yifan Hou vs Hoang Thi Bao Tram 1-025 2006 World Junior Championship (Girls)B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
21. Yifan Hou vs N Kosintseva  ½-½33 2006 North Urals CupC28 Vienna Game
22. Yifan Hou vs M Choisy 1-030 2006 France vs ChinaB93 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6.f4
23. Yifan Hou vs N Kosintseva 1-063 2006 FIDE Women's World ChampionshipB42 Sicilian, Kan
24. Yifan Hou vs Wang Yu  ½-½17 2006 Chinese ChampionshipsB40 Sicilian
25. Yifan Hou vs A Ushenina ½-½56 2006 37th Chess Olympiad: WomenB17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
 page 1 of 16; games 1-25 of 390  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 28 OF 28 ·  Later Kibitzing >
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)

Jul-17-09   ghyanoki: Is Yifan Hou going to become stronger or is she going to maintain this level? In the last year, comparing the july rankings, has only improved 27 points.
Jul-17-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: <ghyanoki: Is Yifan Hou going to become stronger or is she going to maintain this level? In the last year, comparing the july rankings, has only improved 27 points.>

If she "only" improves 27 points per year, then when she turns 20, she will "only" be rated about 2725. Heh.

Jul-25-09   Zitaxis: simul photos and rapid event at Villarrobledo

http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr239...

http://www.ajedrezenvillarrobledo.es/

Jul-30-09   autobezerk: http://www.chessbase.com/espanola/n...

¡Así fue Villarrobledo 2009!
A menudo los torneos los ganan los valientes y eso fue lo que ocurrió en la XXIV edición del Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez de Villarrobledo, disputado los días 25 y 26 de julio. El joven de origen letón y nacionalizado alemán Arkadij Naiditsch consiguió la victoria sin necesidad de desempate. Y es que en la última ronda frenó la ambición de Ruslan Ponomariov, que ya sabe lo que es ganar este torneo, con el Ataque Keres de la variante Scheveningen de ña Siciliana, al mismo tiempo que Vadim Milov y Ni Hua pactaban tablas en el primer tablero, dejando de esa forma todo el protagonismo para el alemán.

Aug-10-09   redwhitechess: just followed Hou's round 2 game in Jubilee open 2009. she knock FM Gernod Beckhuis to make it 2 point. Wonder who is she going to face in round 3.

[Event "JB Zuerich 2009"]
[Site "Zurich"]
[Date "2009.08.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "FM GERNOD BECKHUIS"]
[Black "GM HOU YIFAN"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Nbd7 6.g4 g6 7.Be2 h6 8.h4 a6 9.a4 Bg7 10.h5 Nf8 11.Nh3 Qd7 12.hxg6 fxg6 13.f3 g5 14.Bd3 Ng6 15.Ne2 Qf7 16.Ng3 Nf4 17.Nf5 Bxf5 18.exf5 O-O-O 19.Be4 Nxh3 20.Rxh3 h5 21.Qe2 hxg4 22.Rxh8 Rxh8 23.fxg4 Rh4 24.Ra3 Rxg4 25.Bg2 Kb8 26.Bd2 Qd7 27.Bh3 Re4 28.Re3 Rh4 29.Rg3 g4 30.Bxg4 Nxg4 31.Rxg4 Rh1+ 32.Kf2 Qxf5+ 33.Kg2 Qh5 0-1

live game http://www.sgzurich2009-live.ch/en/

Aug-12-09   akhc: 4.5/6. Just 1/2 point behind the leaders. However she's still only performing on par with her rating as a result of playing lower ranked opposition and she's playing yet another IM rated 2498 in the next round. Would be nice to see a strong finish in the last 3 rounds and pick up a few rating points running into NH.
Oct-19-09   flhoosier: hey, they changed yifan's photo....and they picked a good one too.
Oct-19-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: I like the previous one better...
Oct-19-09   kurtrichards: Always with two designer hair-pins.
Oct-19-09   flhoosier: wonder how often the various photos are changed?
Nov-03-09   Blunderdome: She's going to play Naiditsch in the first round of the World Cup. Can she do it?
Nov-04-09   Ghost of Merlin: I won't be surprised if she could make it to the second round. She has the talent to make it.
Nov-04-09   kurtrichards: Just play your chess, Miss Yifan. Good luck!
Nov-04-09   strategy11: She just won the women's rapid final of the Asia Indoor Games

http://www.asiachessonline.com/AIG3...

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