Chess Queen™ Kosteniuk beats Hou Yifan in Eilat 2012

Today was the first round of the European Club Cup 2012 in Eilat, Israel. I am playing for the team “SHSM” which is composed exclusively of players from Moscow, with Russian Champion Gunina on the second board and Kovalevskaya on the 3rd board. We played against the top rated team Monaco, which has hired the current world champion Hou Yifan on the first, Humpy Koneru on the second, Anna Muzychuk on the third. So it was a fierce match, and especially the first board match was the most watched in the tournament, with me playing Hou Yifan, that is the 12th women’s world chess champion playing the current 13th women’s world chess champion. I decided to give her a little surprise, and for the first time in my life…

played the Caro-Kann defence with black! I ended up winning the game, and you can watch it in an applet on the site www.chess-king.com. Or you can download a PDF generated by Chess King (ad). I recommend you get Chess King, I worked on its development. The discount brings the price down to $49 which is incredible for all the power it contains, strong enough for a GM but so easy that anybody can use it.







The position after my last move 59… Ne4. The threat of Rh8 mate is too strong. If white plays 60. Kh3 there is a fork 60… Nf2+ winning the rook. A wonderful coordination between the rook, knight and pawn to achieve a “back rank” mate:







A photo taken from the official tournament web site:




They should have written “World Champions”, as Hou Yifan is the 13th Women’s World Chess Champion and I’m the 12th Women’s World Chess Champion.







Posted by Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th women’s world chess champion
www.chessqueen.com




Tags: Alexandra Kosteniuk, eilat chess, European Club Cup, Game, Hou Yifan
Posted in Chess, Chess Tournament, Uncategorized | 22 Comments »