Women's World Championship

Discuss anything you like about women's chess at home and abroad.
Tim Harding
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Re: Women's World Championship

Post by Tim Harding » Sat May 02, 2015 1:02 pm

Matt Mackenzie wrote:Well, she didn't on this occasion. Muzychuk offered a draw in a won position, and has the pleasure (?) of playing Hou Yifan.
In the recent Women's World Team Championship, Anna Muzychuk played on board 1 for Ukraine and her sister Mariya (the newly crowned "Women's World Champion") was board 2. This kinda shows what the Ukrainians themselves think of the pecking order!

Hou Yifan is a class act and still very young. She shouldn't waste her time playing for women's titles any more.
Tim Harding
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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Women's World Championship

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sat May 02, 2015 8:53 pm

Not sure if I agree with your last point - IMO Judit P should have made a point of winning it at least a couple of times.
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Ian Kingston
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Re: Women's World Championship

Post by Ian Kingston » Sat May 02, 2015 9:00 pm

I'm pretty sure that Hou would already be well up in the 2700s if she'd left women's events behind two or three years ago. Anish Giri (2776) is the same age; Wesley So (2778) is a year older. I think she should take one last payday against Muzychuk and then aim for the elite.

Tim Harding
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Re: Women's World Championship

Post by Tim Harding » Sun May 03, 2015 11:55 am

Matt Mackenzie wrote:Not sure if I agree with your last point - IMO Judit P should have made a point of winning it at least a couple of times.
Surely a factor for Judit was not competing for that title with her elder sister. The Polgar family already had one women's world champion. By the time Zsuzsa (Susan) lost the title, Judit was way ahead and was hardly going to enter the qualification series. The whole world knew she was far and away the best female player.
Tim Harding
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Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
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Steven DuCharme
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Re: Women's World Championship

Post by Steven DuCharme » Sat Jul 04, 2015 9:11 pm

Liev,Ukraine will host the next world title match in March 2016. Go Winner!
I float like a pawn island and sting like an ignored knight :mrgreen:

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Women's World Championship

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sat Jul 04, 2015 9:48 pm

Tim Harding wrote: In the recent Women's World Team Championship, Anna Muzychuk played on board 1 for Ukraine and her sister Mariya (the newly crowned "Women's World Champion") was board 2. This kinda shows what the Ukrainians themselves think of the pecking order!
I'm fairly sure that Anna Ushenina would also have played for Ukraine whilst world champion on a board other than one.

John McKenna

Re: Women's World Championship

Post by John McKenna » Mon Jul 06, 2015 2:09 pm

Of course, Hou regained the title - that she first won in 2010 - from Ushenina in 2013.
Steven DuCharme wrote:Liev,Ukraine will host the next world title match in March 2016. Go Winner!
I see that you are a neutral.

Some preliminary administrative details here -

http://en.chessbase.com/post/muzychuk-h ... iv-ukraine

This match is one of the more interesting Women's World Championships.

It's East v. West rather than Russia v. chips off the old Soviet block and a new unexpected winner of the title, Mariya Muzychuk, with her feet still firmly planted in women's chess, against a still youthful ex-champion, Hou Yifan, who has moved on to some very strong male events, like the one just ended in Dortmund.

With respect to some of what has been written above, it also has a hint of a young Judith Polgar playing her older sister. Judith bypassed the women's title and went straight to playing in top male events. In a sense this showed her sister players no mercy as they couldn't aspire to a match with the strongest female player in the world because she was out of reach on to a higher stage.

Still no sign of a challenger from these islands on the horizon as far as I can see.
Who was the last best hope (IM Harriet Hunt?), and will there ever be a British challenger?


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