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Gibraltar Chess Festival heading into the final round |
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Wednesday, 01 February 2012 23:35 |
No-one here in Gibraltar at the 2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival can quite believe it. A quiet, polite, 17-year old girl, here with her mother, is a game away from winning the strongest Open chess tournament in history.
Hou Yifan, from China, has beaten one elite player after another in the last few days - including Judit Polgar, the highest ranked female player of all time.
At the start of the event Hou Yifan - the reigning women's world champion - was ranked number 25. But 9 days later, she has beaten four players rated over 2700, and her tournament performance currently stands at a colossal 2892.
On Thursday 2nd Feb she faces Shakriyhar Mamedyarov, the cheerful Azeri grandmaster, rated 2747 - number 14 in the world.
Hou Yifan has 7,5/9. Her opponent tomorrow has 7 points, as have 4 other players, including top British grandmasters Michael Adams and Nigel Short. The final round begins at 11am (Gibraltar time). Follow the live games with computer analysis.
All eyes will be on Gibraltar to see if Hou Yifan can claim the first prize of £20,000 - as well as the top female award of £10,000.
Official website
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