Hou Yifan vs Judit Polgár, Sicilian Defense, Paulsen, Taimanov Variation, B46
Tradewise Gibraltar 2012
A game played back in 2012. between two legends of female chess; Hou Yifan and Judit Polgár.
Hou Yifan was born in 1994., so she was 18 at the time of the game. She has had an amazing career even up until that point and even by male standards. She became a WGM at thirteen, in 2007., and in 2008. she got her grandmaster title. She is the youngest ever female grandmaster. She is also the youngest ever player to participate in the Women’s World Championship at only 12 years old, in 2006. At sixteen she won her first world championship title (first out of three), and in 2015. she became the strongest female player and the highest rated woman in chess.
Her opponent was Judit Polgár, a name which became the synonym for female chess. Her success can be attributed greatly to her father, who brought her and her sister up to live chess. They had daily lessons ever since they were four years old and their father proved that work is what matters most in chess Judit’s career had been astonishing. In 1989. she became the youngest ever grandmaster! A female! Not that that’s not a good thing, but it was so unexpected and strange at the time. She was the first person to break Bobby Fischer’s record which he held since the 60-es, as the youngest GM in history. Since 1989 Judit was also the highest rated woman in the world, and she was finally overthrown by none other than Hou Yifan in 2015.
Hou Yifan is an astonishing chess player, but she is also a very educated woman. She enrolled in University despite being world’s no1, and despite the fact she could live off chess comfortably. Against the wishes of her coach she went to study public relations, and she will soon be studying for he Master of Science degree at the Oxford University! This might put her in a disadvantage compared to her competition at the top, but I must say I highly admire her versatility, intelligence and the amount of self-confidence which it must had taken to make such a decision.