Women's Speed Chess Championship: Hou Yifan Joins Quarterfinalists

In her first official chess event in 2021, GM Hou Yifan reached the quarterfinals of the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship. The former women's world champion from China beat Azerbaijan's IM Gulnar Mammadova 15-6 on Sunday.

The next match in the championship is also the first quarterfinal: GM Kateryna Lagno vs GM Nana Dzagnidze on Thursday, June 24 at 7:30 Pacific / 16:30 Central Europe.

The live broadcast of the match.

The pairing system of the event created in the first round a few matchups where one player was simply too strong for the other. In the eighth and last match in the round of 16, that was the case: Hou, the strongest still active female chess player on the planet, was no match for Mammadova, who did put up a good fight and was part of a great match to watch.

Hou won the 5|1 and 3|1 segments, both with a 6-1, without losing a game. She won a model game as White in the Winawer:

Mammadova did win two games in the bullet segment. In fact, she won that part of the match 4-3. The Azerbaijani's first win was the game when Hou erred in a theoretical endgame:

Mammadova said she was very happy that she got the chance to play in this big tournament against the number-one female player in the world. "This was a big experience for me," she said.

For Hou, the Women's Speed Chess Championship was her first official event in 2021. She referred to her new occupation as a professor at Shenzhen University: "To be honest, I was busy with my job in the university and also some other projects going on," she said. "I am not particularly training myself and not playing too often. It's a great pleasure to be back!"

Mammadova earned $1,000 for finishing 9th-16th. Hou moves on to the quarterfinals, where she will meet IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, who eliminated GM Humpy Koneru. All eight matchups are now set. The tournament will continue on June 24.

All games

The FIDE Chess.com 2021 Women's Speed Chess Championship is an online competition for titled female players. The qualifiers for the event were held May 28-June 6, while the main event runs June 10-July 3. Players battle for their shares of a total prize fund of $66,000.

Previous reports:

• Women's Speed Chess Championship: Lei Tingjie, Anna Muzychuk Advance
• Women's Speed Chess Championship: Dzagnidze Beats Krush In Tiebreak
• Women's Speed Chess Championship: Stefanova Too Strong For Cori
• Women's Speed Chess Championship: Harika Eliminates Kosteniuk In Tiebreak
• Women's Speed Chess Championship: Lagno Beats Gunina
• Women's Speed Chess Championship: Assaubayeva Stuns Koneru