Chess Femme News!

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Record Set for World’s Youngest Chess Champion
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: December 24, 2010
Hou Yifan, a 16-year-old chess player from China, became the youngest world chess champion on Friday, toppling a record held since 1978. . . . 

Ms. Hou said that she received training and financial support from the Chinese government. She studies chess four to five hours a day, and also attends high school. She said that she sometimes fell behind in her work, but her teachers understood and tried to help her out.

[Last paragraph - note.  It's not a surprise that the Chinese government supports at least some of its promising chessplayers - they want to make a statement about the superiority of their "system" just like the Russians wanted to under their Communist leaders back in it's heyday.  People who underestimate the amount of and impact of this support are foolish.]

From The Assam Tribune
Mahasweta, Rituraj, Dipu bag school chess titles
Sports reporter GUWAHATI, Dec 24 – Mahasweta Kumar of Collegiate Higher Secondary School, Mangaldai clinched the title in the Queen Group of the All Assam School Chess which concluded at the Assam Jatiya Vidyalaya here today. In the Knight Group, Rituraj Borgohain of St Xavier’s School, Duliajan became winner while in the Pawn Group, Dipu Pradhan of St Peter School, Nazira won the crown.

The championship was organised by Guwahati Chess Academy where 142 players from 30 schools from all over the State took part.

Girls:  (Queen Group) Tina Choudhury, St Mary’s Convent (3½ pts), Pranati Acharjee, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Narangi (2½ pts).

(Knight Group) Ankita Hazarika, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kahanapara (5 pts), Natasha Dutta, Disneyland School, Guwahati (4½ pts).

(Pawn Group) Twinkle Patgiri, Do Bosco School, Tinsukia (4½ pts), Bidisha Sarma, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Rajgarh (4½ pts).

From Panarmenian.net
Lilit Mkrtchyan, Tigran Petrosyan win tournament dedicated to 50th anniversary of Henrik Kasparian chess school
December 25, 2010 - 17:42 AMT 13:42 GMT

From The Telegraph - Calcutta
Arpita is the first casualty
December 25, 2010
A STAFF REPORTER
Calcutta: Former Asian U-8 runner-up Arpita Mukherjee was the first casualty amongst the seeds, as she was upset by unrated Shaswat Chakraborty in the first round of the Mayor’s Cup Fide Rating Chess Tournament on Friday. Opting for the unambitious Colle System, Arpita lost a pawn early in the game and finally blundered a piece, which cost her the game.  . . .

Chessbase.com
2010 Women's World Championship – Hou Yifan is world champion!
24.12.2010 – Santa Claus could not have given her a better present. After being pushed into an unexpected tie-break, young Hou Yifan pulled herself together and won the 4-game rapid match with a convincing 3-1 score. The hitherto youngest finalist in history is now the youngest world champion ever, breaking Maia Chiburdanidze's 32-year-old record. Here is the final report.