Hou Yifan Defeats Koneru Humpy 5.5-2.5
By Arvind Aaron

China's Hou Yifan retained her world women's chess title by defeating Koneru Humpy 5.5-2.5 in a one-sided match with two games to spare at Tirana in Albania on Nov 24, 2011.

The Chinese girl who became the youngest ever world champion at 16 in 2010, retained her title winning three games and drawing five.

Humpy was outclassed in the best of ten series. She failed to win a single game despite being the higher rated of the two. The Vijayawada did not obtain good positions and her preparation with white was a question mark.

Hou Yifan had a good score against Humpy and is building a huge personal plus score against the Indian in mutual head-to-head encounters.

Humpy perhaps underestimated her opponent in match play. Humpy did well in the first two games which she drew and then faded away in the remaining six.

Details of practice matches of Humpy prior to the match is not available. Even photographs from the last few games showed disappointment in Humpy's face.

Now Humpy needs a break and then continue to look at how Anand shaped his career and used his 1995 and 1998 match defeats to advantage in the remaining matches since 2000.

The only plus point for Humpy in this match was the 80,000 Euro loser cheque and the experience of playing Hou Yifan who picked up 120,000 Euros.

The eighth game was a 29-move draw in a rook ending. Eight is a lucky number for the Chinese unlike for Indians.

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