WWCh G4: Hou Yifan maintains lead in Albania
The fourth game of the Women's World Championship match between Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru ended in a draw. The reigning champion was better throughout the game, but after five hours of play the Indian grandmaster saved the draw. The match takes place in in Tirana, Albania and is played over 10 classical games and a possible tiebreak.
Game 4 under way in Tirana, Albania | All photos © FIDE by Anna Burtasova & Anastasiya Karlovich
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The first move in game 4 executed by the sponsor and President of the Albanian Chess Federation, Rezart Taci while FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos watches
In the fourth game of the match World champion Hou Yifan had the white pieces. As her opponent Humpy Koneru said at the post-game press conference, the Chinese got an edge and was pressing throughout the game. The Indian had to defend an unpleasant position.
In the deep endgame White managed to win a pawn, but there were not many sources left for a fight – both players had a rook and a knight. The challenger defended this endgame well, despite being short on time.
At 8pm the game finally finished.After 4 games World Champion Hou Yifan is leading with 2.5 points; Humpy Koneru has 1.5.
On the 19th of November the players have a rest day. On Sunday, November 20th Hou Yifan will have the white pieces again. The measure of changing the colors after the fourth game has the goal to prevent the same player having the white pieces after each of the rest days throughout the match because this might give her an advantage in preparation.
Game 4
[Event "WCh w"]
[Site "Tirana ALB"]
[Date "2011.11.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C80"]
[WhiteElo "2578"]
[BlackElo "2600"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2011.11.14"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 d3 13. Nxc5 dxc2 14. Qxd8+ Rxd8
15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Be3 Rd5 17. c4 bxc4 18. Rac1 Nb4 19. a3 Nd3 20. Rxc2 Kd7 21.
Bd4 Rb8 22. Bc3 c5 $146 (22... Rdb5 23. a4 Rd5 24. Nd2 Bb4 25. Nxc4 {1/2-1/2
(25) Kraus,G (2205)-Geissler,W (2139)/GER email 2007}) 23. Nd2 Nxe5 24. f4 Ng4
25. Nxc4 Bf6 26. Re1 Bd4+ 27. Bxd4 Rxd4 28. h3 Nf6 29. Ne5+ Kd6 30. Nf7+ Kd7
31. Ne5+ Kd6 32. Nf7+ Kd7 33. Rxc5 Rxb2 34. Ne5+ Ke8 35. Nf3 Re4 36. Rxe4 Nxe4
37. Re5 Nc3 38. Rxe6+ Kf8 39. Rxa6 Ne2+ 40. Kh2 Nxf4 41. Kg3 Nxg2 42. Re6 h6
43. Ne5 Ra2 44. a4 g5 45. Rxh6 Ne1 46. Rf6+ Kg7 47. Rg6+ Kh7 48. Rxg5 Rxa4 49.
h4 Ra3+ 50. Kg4 Ng2 51. h5 Ne3+ 52. Kf4 Nd5+ 53. Kf5 Ra5 54. Rg1 Ra2 55. Ng4
Ra5 56. Ke4 Nc3+ 57. Kd3 Nd5 58. Ke4 1/2-1/2
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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