Koneru Humpy’s title challenge was snuffed out in clinical fashion by Hou Yifan. Hou took a 2-0 lead by winning game six with a snap combination in mutual time trouble. She made it 3-0 by winning game seven as well, with a workmanlike endgame.
That left Humpy the mathematically improbable task of winning the last three games to equalise. Game eight was a steady draw. The Chinese teenager was never in serious trouble. That is plain awesome in terms of match dominance — Hou’s rating performance was 2735.
As an Indian, one is naturally disappointed at the way the challenge fizzled out, though the end-result wasn’t surprising. But speaking purely as a fan, Yifan’s talent has always been blindingly obvious.
It will be a shame if PRC sporting policy stunts her future. Indeed, she is so talented, one can speak of a world champion’s development being stunted, without any irony. If Hou Yifan plays gender-neutral events ala Judit Polgar, the 17-year-old could be the second woman to break into the top 10.
The PRC has always “encouraged” its women players to focus on women’s events where they are guaranteed laurels. But Hou needs to be given her head in terms of competing against the very best. Her peer group includes Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Parimarjan Negi, etc. Regardless of initial results, those are the people she needs to play now. It would be a waste of her potential to restrict her to winning more women’s only events.
For Humpy, it's back to the drawing board. The Indian GM has a very high will power quotient as well as considerable talent. She is quite capable of figuring out what went wrong and mounting another challenge. But she will need to reboot her coaching strategy or rather, create a stable one. She cannot continue in this ad hoc fashion without a serous permanent trainer.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, the Tal Memorial is immured in a prison of draws. Levon Aronyan leads with 5.5 from eight rounds (+2,=6) ahead of a pack of Carlsen, Karjakin, Ivanchuk and Nepomniachtchi (all at +1 with 5 points) . Anand has eight draws. Kramnik, Svidler, Nakamura and Gelfand have minus scores.
The Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY, (Koneru,Humpy Vs Hou,Yifan, Game 6, Wchps 2011) saw both players in desperate time trouble. White could liquidate with 30. Bxf6 gf6 31. Bd5 R4e5 32. Bxb7 a5 33. Bf3 Bxf5 with an equal position.
Instead 30.Bc5 Re8 31.Bf7 R8e5 32.Ba2 Bc6 33.Rg1? Re2! - Black’s better now 34.Bd4 Rxf5 35.Bc4 Rd2 36.Bc3 Ne4 (36. - Ng4! maybe even stronger) 37.Rge1 Ng3+! 38.hxg3 Rh5+ (0-1). The forced 39. Kg1 Rxg2+ 40. Kf1 Rh1# is coming.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
