The final match of the World Women Chess Championship started today. Two Chinese player Hou Yifan and Ruan Lufei played the first game. The mayor of the city Antakya visited the event and made the first move for Hou Yifan. White started the game with 1. e4. The players entered the popular line of Caro-Kann defense. The following position appeared on the board after 24 moves.


Black could choose a quiet continuation like 24…Bf4 or 24…f6. Instead, after 24…c5!? she decided to go into the ending with uneven material (White has 2 rooks and 2 pawns against rook, bishop and knight of Black), which seemed to be better for White. Although, after 73 moves of play Hou Yifan could not get more than a draw from the position.


A mayor of the city Antakya makes the first move of the final


Hou Yifan didn’t succeed to use the advantage of the first move today


Ruan Lufei in a good mood before the start of the final


A press-conference of the mayor of Antakya, governor of Antakya and the President of TCF Ali Nihat Yazici