PRESS RELEASE 4 27 January 2015
‘GIBRALTAR IS A LUCKY PLACE FOR ME’ SAYS WOMAN WORLD CHESS CHAMPION
CAPTION: Miss Gibraltar 2014 Shyanne Azzopardi reads out the name of HouYifan’s first opponent in Round 1 of the Gib Masters.
The reigning Women’s World Chess Champion HouYifan from China says she is very happy to be back in Gibraltar.
“I am lucky to be back here to such a lucky place for me. With the lovely weather and lovely people,” she said ahead of the start of the Gibraltar Masters tournament which has started this afternoon in a sunny Gibraltar.
HouYifan is the top woman player at this year’s 2015 Tradewise Chess Festival. She is the youngest ever to win the title of Women’s World Chess Champion as well as the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of Grandmaster.
In this tournament she is ranked 13th and in her first round today she is playing against FM Dr. Hans-JoergCordes.
She has just arrived directly from Wijkaan Zee in Holland where she took part in the highly prestigious Tata Steel Masters. In a field which included world champion Magnus Carlsen and several of his highly ranked rivals, Hou finished 11th with a score of 5/13. Her participation in the world's strongest closed tournament, immediately followed by her participation here in the world's strongest open tournament, is testament to her stamina and ambition.
Last time she played in Gibraltar she was nearing 18. That year, 2012, she almost upset the apple cart at the 10th edition of the festival after a close encounter with England’s Nigel Short when both finished on 8/10 after the final round. Nigel then went on to win the play-off.
In 2015 HouYifan, who turns 21 next month, hopes to show her best performance on the Rock.
“In my last visit I had a fantastic result and I am not forcing myself to do even better this year but of course I want to do my best and look for some good performances. In my last tournament my performance was not that good but maybe here I can get back on form and produce some interesting games,” she said.
CAPTION: Women’s World Chess Champion HouYifan at the start of play today. Pic: Sophie Triay.
Although being Women’s World Chess Champion is important to her she says it is just a title.
“But it does mean something because it proves you are one of the best players in the world. But now I want to concentrate onmy chess rating and chess quality and overall standing for this Open tournament.”
Alice Mascarenhas, John Saunders and Leontxo Garcia, Tradewise Press Chess Officers
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Steve Connor, Webmaster.
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