This is Hou Yifan. She is 21, has an ELO grade of 2673, is number 68 in the world and has been a Grandmaster since she was fourteen, the youngest female chess player ever to have achieved the title. She is currently playing at the Tata Steel Masters Tournament in Amsterdam where she is, not surprisingly, the only female player among some of the giants of modern chess. She has the second lowest grade of the fourteen competitors yet after four rounds she shares second place on 2½/4 ahead of world number one, Magnus Carlsen (2/4), and Britain’s strongest player, Michael Adams, who has made a wretched start and is currently last with 1/4 after two defeats.
Readers may think that I may have some vested interest in promoting Chinese chess after singing the praises of Wei Yi, Ding Liren and recently Yu Yangyi but my aim is merely to highlight the current strength of chess in China. Wei Yi (on 2/4 at Tata Steel) is 16, Ding Liren (2½/4 and last year’s runner-up behind Magnus Carlsen) is a comparative veteran at 23 and Yu Yangyi is 21. Russia and the Soviet Union may have dominated world chess in the last century but it is China leading the way in this one. Here is Hou Yifan’s swashbuckling win against world number 25 David Navara of the Czech Republic today.
White: Hou Yifan (2673) Black: David Navara (2730)
Tata Steel Masters 2016
Black resigns
Leading the way after four rounds is world number 5, Fabiano Caruana with two wins and two draws from his four matches and many think he should have won against Anish Giri this afternoon. There is still plenty to play for – could there be a Chinese victory? You read it here first!
Broadstairs 2½ Herne Bay 1½
| 1. | Bob Cronin (112) | 1-0 | Ronnie Melhuish (103) |
| 2. | Andy Flood (111) | 0-1 | Brian Humble (98) |
| 3. | Reg Pidduck (106) | ½-½ | Jamie Dawson (76) |
| 4. | Michael Doyle (89) | 1-0 | John Heath (e78) |
Reg Pidduck writes:
BOARD 4: QUICK WIN. Michael’s attacking nature soon paid off as he pressed John Heath from the start. Having gone a piece up he never let up and duly won inside an hour. 1-0 up to us.
BOARD 1: MATCH OF THE NIGHT. Bob got a deserved win against a cunning Ronnie after pushing two pawns forward into enemy territory and finally getting a touchdown which finished Ronnie off. 2-0 to us.
BOARD 3: YOUNG JAMIE A FORCE. I was able to play my favourite Dutch defence against Jamie who once again (last September) played extremely well for his 76 grade. After I turned down a draw offer from Jamie and playing with rook and pawns each, we came to a slight impasse. But Bob’s win on board 1 made my decision to take the draw easy. 2½-½ to us
BOARD 2: TABLES TURNED. It’s normally Andy that slowly turns the screw on his opponents. But this time it was Brian after winning a piece and gaining a very good win against our board two star. A 2½-1½ win for Broadstairs.
That’s played 3 won 3 in our quest to keep the Walker Shield. Well done team!
The first Game of the Week for the New Year features one of my better efforts. Unfortunately, it was not enough for us to beat a typically strong Bridge A side but there was no disgrace in our defeat. The game looks like a brief encounter but it took over three hours owing to the considerable thought given by my opponent throughout which may well have led to his losing on time anyway. After applying pressure, I was pleased that I finally managed to find a way through only for James Essinger to point out afterwards that I missed a mate in two a move earlier (29. Qxg8+)!
White: Bob Page (145) Black: Arnaud Wisman (173)
Millar Cup: Broadstairs v Bridge A
Black resigns
Broadstairs 2½ Bridge A 4½
| 1 | David Faldon (175) | 1-0 | Michael Green (179) |
| 2 | Bob Page (145) | 1-0 | Arnaud Wisman (173) |
| 3 | Paul Carfrae (131) | 0-1 | Alan Atkinson (173) |
| 4 | John Couzens (118) | 0-1 | David Shire (161) |
| 5 | Bob Cronin (112) | 0-1 | James Essinger (154) |
| 6 | Andy Flood (111) | 0-1 | Chris Stampe (139) |
| 7 | Reg Pidduck (106) | ½-½ | Shahid Sahi (115) |
David Faldon writes:
This was a very close-fought match despite the fact that we were outgraded all the way down, and heavily so on boards 2 to 6. After an hour and a half it would have been hard for an outsider to guess the higher-graded team, which is a big compliment to all of our guys on the middle boards. Eventually, though, things began to turn against us as the pieces got swapped off and the clocks ran down. The first game to finish was on board 5, where James got his king in amongst Bob C’s pawns and there was no defence. Reg on board 7 was close to equalizing the match but Shahid managed to find a neat perpetual check to force a draw. The next to finish was board 4. John pressed long and hard with the white pieces but a huge tactical scrummage swapped down to an ending with just kings and pawns. Unfortunately David S emerged from the scrum with one extra pawn which got home for a touchdown. This left the score Broadstairs ½ Bridge 2½ but all was not lost. Two wins and two draws would have levelled the match. For a time this looked quite possible but it wasn’t to be, despite Bob P crashing through for a great win on board 2 against a tremendously strong opponent. In the end Paul on board 3 and then Andy on board 6 both had to concede defeat after more than three hours of heroic defence and the match was lost. The final win for us on board 1 was a case of too little, too late, but it was great fun to play as both players sacrificed and counter-sacrificed while their clocks ran down to zero.
Congratulations to our new friend, GM Aleksander Mista, who has just finished joint first in the Hastings Masters. Not sure at time of writing if there is to be a play-off for outright winner but 7/9 is a fine achievement and one place better than last year. Well done, Mr Mista.