China's golden girl Hou Yifan has become the youngest ever women's world champion but some male traditionalists remain unconvinced.
Hou, 16, beat Ruan Lufei, 23, after a nervy match where the teenager, who reached the final in 2008 and far outrated her little-known compatriot, made heavy weather of four classical games and was lucky to reach 2-2. Rapid tie-breaks were a different story as Hou shed her inhibitions and trounced her opponent 3-1.
Until now only Judit Polgar has been a match for elite male grandmasters. Polgar stopped playing women-only events at 12, soared as high as the world top 10 with her creative attacks and only a few weeks ago, despite being a semi-retired mother of two, impressively crushed the elite GMs Veselin Topalov and Vassily Ivanchuk in Mexico.
Traditionalists claim that Polgar is an exception and that no other woman has got close to the top 20 males, so the advance of Hou, the best talent since Polgar, is keenly watched.
Beijing's sports officials have so far made women's chess her priority, thus limiting her chances to take on the very best men and probably slowing her progress. But, with the world title secured, more opportunities will open up. Hou's next event will be Tradewise Gibraltar, the strongest open in Western Europe, starting on 24 January, where the top seeds include Ivanchuk and the England No1, Michael Adams.作者: peter236 時間: 2011-1-10 13:04
Hou Yifan becomes youngest women's world champion in chess.
