(Photo taken from the official site)
Challenger and former two times World Champion Hou Yifan (19 y.o.) won the match for the Crown against Ushenina with the score of 5.5-1.5! Thus, Yifan became three times Women’s World Champion!!
Congrats to the winner!
(Photo taken from the official site)
Ushenina lost the 3rd game with White yesterday and needs not to lose in the next game in order for the match to continue as the challenger is 3 points ahead. Hou Yifan was again better prepared and White spent a lot of time on finding good moves but still found herself without advantage after the opening, then got into time pressure and lost on time in a bad position.
(Photo taken from the official site)
The 5th game ended in a draw as well. Ushenina played very courageously and could get an advantage on move 21 (Rbxh4 instead of 21…Bh6).
The challenger leads with 3-1 score.
(Photo taken from the official site)
The 4th game was drawn. Ushenina made a novelty on the 9th move playing Black and got what looked like an interesting position. In a complicated endgame with no queens Hou decided to secure the 2 point advantage and repeated the position.
Today is a rest day.
(Photo taken from the official site)
It looked like both players were well prepared but after 15th move of Black Ushenina just didn’t manage to find good moves and lost very quickly. I must admit that it is the first time that I see the World Champion suffering with the White pieces in a match for the crown.