Hou Yifan Wins In Ulaanbaatar
Hou Yifan may only be sweet sixteen, but she is already a deadly force at the chess board.
The talented Chinese prodigy (pictured, from the official site) won the latest FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Ulanbaataar with an undefeated score of 8/11 despite a brief illness which caused her round eight game to be postponed for a day.
She won that delayed game and went on to clinch a crucial draw with her nearest rival Antoaneta Stefanova in the final round to seal victory against a very strong field for a women's tournament.
Hou Yifan is already the #3 ranked woman behind #1 Judit Polgar, who has rarely played in recent years and #2 Koneru Humpy, who trailed her in this event.
The final standings in Ulaanbaatar
| Hou Yifan | CHN | 2577 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8.0 |
| Stefanova, Antoaneta | BUL | 2560 | ½ | * | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.5 |
| Koneru, Humpy | IND | 2600 | ½ | 1 | * | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 6.5 |
| Zhao Xue | CHN | 2462 | ½ | 1 | 1 | * | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6.5 |
| Kosintseva, Tatiana | RUS | 2562 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6.5 |
| Chiburdanidze, Maia | GEO | 2514 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0 |
| Xu Yuhua | CHN | 2488 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Shen Yang | CHN | 2435 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 5.0 |
| Zhu Chen | QAT | 2476 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 |
| Sebag, Marie | FRA | 2519 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | 4.0 |
| Munguntuul, Batkhuyag | MGL | 2421 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | * | 1 | 3.5 |
| Yildiz, Betul Cemre | TUR | 2235 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | * | 2.0 |
A selection of games from Hou Yifan are below:
