| Hou - Koneru Women's World Championship Match (2011) |
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Played in the "Akernia" hall of the Tirana International Hotel in Tirana, Albania, 14-24 November 2011 (with a rest day every three days). The reigning champion Yifan Hou was challenged by Humpy Koneru, who had qualified from the Grand Prix tournament series that ended with the 6th FIDE Women Grand Prix (2011) in Doha, Qatar. The two players were ranked 2nd and 3rd in the world (behind Judit Polgar). Match conditions: best of 10 games or the first to achieve 5½ points. Time control: 90 minutes for first 40 moves, then 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added per move from move 1. If 5-5, four 25+10 Rapid games would be played, and if still equal, up to five pairs of 5+3 Blitz games, before an eventual Armageddon game. Games started at 3 pm local time. The prize fund was 200,000 Euros, with 60% to the winner and 40% to the loser. Chief arbiter: Panagiotis Nikolopoulos. After eight games Koneru could no longer catch up, and Hou had defended her title. Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Hou 2578 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 5½
Koneru 2600 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 2½
Official site: https://web.archive.org/web/2011112...
Mark Weeks: https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/b1...
Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/wwc...
ChessBase 1: https://en.chessbase.com/post/wwcc-...
ChessBase 2: https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-...
TWIC: http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews...
FIDE: https://web.archive.org/web/2011120...
Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...
Wikipedia article: Women's World Chess Championship 2011Previous: Women's World Championship Knockout Tournament (2010) (Hou became the 13th women's world champion). Next: Women's World Championship Knockout Tournament (2012) (Hou knocked out in Round 2, Anna Ushenina became the 14th women's world champion)
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Later Kibitzing> |
| Nov-25-11 | | dumbgai: I expected Hou to win despite her slightly lower rating, but I didn't expect this level of domination. One thing about the ratings: they can be deceptive if players face a different pool of opponents. For example, Hou's rating may be a bit suppressed by the tough opposition she faces in China, where many talented but underrated young players compete. In fact, many of the better known Chinese GMs (Wang Yue, Bu Xiangzhi, etc.) fail to show the level of domination against these anonymous kids that would be expected from the ratings. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Catholic Bishop: Here's a bit of trivia for people interested in the Chinese side of things: The State Channel CCTV originally scheduled a live broadcast of games 9 and 10 which obviously won't happen now. On the blogospheres Yifan gets 'blamed' for this. So she's gonna make up for it by doing an analysis session on one of her wins, which will be broadcast instead. |
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Nov-25-11
 | | HeMateMe: The arbiter for this match was Carol Jarecki, who has been a chess ref for 30+ years: <Biography
A licensed pilot, she first became involved with chess as a "ChessMom", flying her young son, John Jarecki, who became the youngest ever chess master in U.S. history at the age of 12 in 1981 (the record was soon surpassed by a slightly younger Stuart Rachels), to various chess events in the United States. Soon, she started working at those tournaments and eventually became a certified tournament director at the highest National Tournament Director level. She has continued directing, although her son is no longer an active player. Jarecki earned her pilot licenses while living in Heidelberg, Germany, and flew extensively in Europe. She remains an active pilot, having flown her Cessna 210 throughout the United States, to Alaska and to many destinations in the Caribbean as far as St. Lucia, West Indies. She has directed many prestigious chess events including serving as Head Tournament Director at several U.S. Chess Championships, SuperNational Scholastic Championships, National Elementary Championships, and World Opens in Philadelphia as well as many other national tournaments large and small. She has been the chief arbiter at the Bermuda International Open and associated invitationals for over 20 years. She is also an International Arbiter recognized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. She regularly works the World Chess Olympiad, sometimes as the Head Arbiter. She is also the Delegate from the British Virgin Islands to the FIDE Congress. She was the Chief Arbiter at the PCA World Chess Championship match in 1995 in New York held at the top of the World Trade Center, between World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Viswanathan Anand. Jarecki was the arbiter and referee for the high-profile match between Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer program Deep Blue in 1997 in New York City, as well as the two Intel Grand Prix matches held there. She was the head arbiter for the HB Global Chess Challenge, Minneapolis 2005; this tournament had the richest prize fund, $500,000, for an Open tournament in chess history. It attracted over 50 Grandmasters and nearly 1,500 players. Outside of chess, Jarecki is known for a very successful run of roulette winnings with her husband Dr. Richard Jarecki in the 1970s, playing in casinos in Monte Carlo and San Remo using a system based on finding roulette wheels biased by mechanical imperfections.[1][2] Jarecki now lives in Manhattan, New York and Las Vegas, Nevada.> |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Lambda: <Where's the problem?> I think the best thing for a talented 16-year-old is to play a wide range of opponents of similar or slightly greater strength, and to be told to keep improving and aim for greater things in the future. Having them beat a load of weaker opponents who just have the same chromosome pair and be proclaimed "already, a world champion" seems most likely to be an act of sabotage. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Pepperpot: <I think you might want to check your "minority math."> Hmmm, the most recent of those finished in 1978. According to my maths, that was 33 years ago. Let's compare with something a bit more recent: <Anand> vs <Topalov>: 406 pages. <Anand> vs <Kramnik>: 444 pages <Kramnik> vs <Topalov>: 1162 pages. Let's not even get into a contest over the number of pages of kibitzing for the individual games. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Lambda: <9 measly pages of comments for a world championship match. White males just aren't interested in minority chess.> And the only world-class member of that "minority"... |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Pepperpot: What <Ladolcevita> is struggling manfully to say is that Chinese people aren't much interested in non-Chinese people playing chess. That's cool. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Ladolcevita: <Caissanist>
Yes,I'm from mainland China,and yes it is not blocked here.The reasons,well,as my fellow countryman <vacooly>has already put very well,are mainly twofold: 1.Chess is peripheral in China with quite a small number of followers. 2.Most Chinese people do not know how to speak English,and for thos who do,I think they usually dont go to foreign sites much either.After all,strolling along the homeland sites in native language is what people do,and it is certainly effortless,easier and thus more comfortable.I too mainly go to Chinese sites. <Atking>
Er,actually I'm "he"... |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Ladolcevita: <Pepperpot>
I have just edited my post,clarifying my gender,so maybe it would not seem so manfully now?:)Well,my friend,you take me wrong...I'm just clarifying the fact,since Caissanist do not know about it. It's not about interest,rather,it's about the cultural difference,or national difference. Do you think with so many population ,Chinese people could really have so much leisure time to go after a game?China is not a developed country,so certainly there are many many things to do other than playing games,and especially in backward areas,where I dont think playing games would really attract people,who have to make a passable living first... Moreover,as for games,how can a native person not go after native games first?They are more familiar,of more affinity,more sources,etc... |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Pepperpot: Lack of interest due to cultural/national/ethnic differences. Of course, when you say it, it's unremarkable; when I say it, it's a thought crime. In other words, it's a racist attack on me. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Ladolcevita: <Pepperpot>
I'm sorry,my friend,but why is it a racist attack?... |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Ladolcevita: <Pepperpot>
I once wrote some posts on a similar note in Le Quang Liem's page,maybe you can take a look and thus would understand it better:)Le Quang Liem Le Quang Liem |
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| Nov-25-11 | | andrewjsacks: Wasn't it Abbott and Costello who first said, "Hou's in first"? How utterly prophetic.... |
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Nov-25-11
| | HeMateMe: Bhat's on second! |
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| Nov-25-11 | | Atking: <<Atking> Er,actually I'm "he"...> Oops sorry <Ladolcevita>. (Usually Italian word ending with "a"... but Ok) In fact it doesn't matter much for me; more important is your posts and I appreciate them. About Cultural interest I'm pretty sure that Chinese people know better US and Europeen culture than the opposite... (The fact for Japan). As for chess itself, I will be not surprise if there is more Chinese people playing Chess than non-Chinese playing Chinese chess. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | dumbgai: I'm Chinese-American and have been to China many times. From what I know, very few people in China play chess. However, there is a pretty good general interest among the public, and some players like Xie Jun are very well famous. Major chess events involving Chinese players are often covered on the TV news. My parents, who also live in the US, don't care about chess at all but know Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua, etc. just from watching the Chinese news on TV. It's basically the exact opposite of the US, where there are a lot of hobby players but no major news coverage of chess at all. |
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Nov-25-11
| | HeMateMe: I can't remember when's the last time Sports Illustrated ran a chess story. I think the bathroom controversy between Kramnik and Anand may have generated a story. I have a hunch Yifan might get a story soon. Precocious youth draw interest. They did a story this issue about lexi Thompson, a 16 year old female golfer, youngest to ever win a women's professional event. Yifan has to do some "girly" stuff, like do interviews with western publications (if this is allowed), Say "Justin Beaber is hot!", stuff like that, and the reporters here, who don't care about chess, will write about her, because she is a talented teenager. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | twinlark: There's also the much bigger issue of the international game becoming a laughing stock, run by a corrupt ex-dictator and alien abductee. Sponsorship dollars are hard enough to come by in these straitened times without loony tunes undermining the game at its foundations. |
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Nov-25-11
| | HeMateMe: I think the member FIDE countries should have to put up some real money, comensurate with their GDP. Countries like the USA, which now have chess as an elective in some public schools, should really put up some money for a 24 game, well run final. A lot of the Europeon counrties could put up more money, too. There is no reason why Kirsan and Chess City should somehow dominate the royal game. Its just an embarrassment when a MLB scrub is getting $2 million a year to sit on the bench, and we don't even have a few hundred grand to sponsor a chess final in the USA. New York City is a perfect host for a chess final, the championship match. It could be held at a large hotel in an outer bourugh. Queens NY has a large hotel on the seven line, 45 minutes into Manhattan. Jersey City has new, large hotels, 20 minutes into midtown manhattan. A shame that an impoverished country like Albania is the default host for the women's championship. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | twinlark: Pretty much sums up the state of the game. That plus lame arse federations. |
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| Nov-25-11 | | dumbgai: <A shame that an impoverished country like Albania is the default host for the women's championship.> What's even sadder is that Albania is arguably an upgrade over the default location for chess events that can't find a sponsor: Elista, Kalmykia. It's hard enough to send the press to Linares and Wijk aan Zee. |
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| Nov-26-11 | | Ladolcevita: <Atking>
Thanks,my friend,I always appreciate your posts too:)Yes,what you've said is indeed true.But I've also known many western people speaking fluent Chinese,and some even know ancient Chinese language and read classic Chinese literature leisurely,etc.,and knows a great deal about China in many other aspects(I believe it is the same about Japan and any other country). And on the other hand,many of my Chinese friends do not know much about western culture either...for instance,they dont know English,so they cant even begin to understand western culture,despite knowing some renowned name such as Einstein,Marie Curie,etc... So I think it really depends on individuals,depends on whether they happen to travel to another culture.Otherwise,they will always be satisfied with myths they obtained from newspapers or suchlike... |
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| Nov-29-11 | | lotus123: If anything this match indicates, it is that ELO rating superiority has nothing to do with Chess Strength. Another match that comes to my mind is WCC between Topalov and Kramnik. |
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| Nov-29-11 | | lotus123: If one-on-one match is best way to measure chess strength, how can we rectify WCC cycles so that each time we can have best challanger and best champion? |
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| Nov-29-11 | | Catholic Bishop: One-on-one matches can NOT be the best way to measure anything as it simply creates hilarious contradictions. Case in point, strength difference deduced from head-to head scores: kasparov-shirov 600 elo points
shirov-bareev 200 elo points
bareev-khalifman 300 elo points
khalifman-kramnik 0 elo points
kramnik-Polgar, 600 elo points
By deduction, if Kasparov was rated 2800, Polgar must be rated around 1100, ie worst than an absolute beginner. |
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