Sound Chess Advice from Ruan Lufei

The North American Chess Association sponsored an appearance by Ruan Lufei, who narrowly lost the Women's World Chess Champion title to GM Hou Yifan in December.  What a treat!

From triblocal.com/skokie

World Champion Dazzles Them at Skokie’s North Shore Chess Center
By Brad Rosen Monday at 10:36 p.m.
March 14, 2011

[Excerpted]
Ruan Lufei, a member of China’s 2007 world championship women's chess team, brought the chessboard to life Saturday afternoon at Skokie’s North Shore Chess Center. The 23-year old Ruan was the runner up at the recent 2010 Women’s World Chess Championship, where 64 of the world’s top women chess players competed in Hatay, Turkey in December. Ruan defeated Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk, the defending champion, before coming up short in her championship match with fellow countrywoman Grand Master Yifan Hou.

Here are a few of Ruan’s suggestions for those trying to improve their game:

•Don’t show weakness or play for a draw no matter the strength of your opponent. Chess is about the struggle and the fight. Playing this way will lead to the greatest learning and improvement.
•The best defense is often offense: attack your opponent.
•Play openings that suit your personality, but always have a few different ideas in mind.
Ruan, who is currently pursuing a PH.D. in accounting from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said the biggest influence on her development as a chess player has been GM Anatoly Karpov, the world champion from 1975-85.

According to its owner Sevan A. Muradian, the North Shore Chess Center plans on continuing its lecture series featuring top chess players, as well promoting chess throughout the community. “Chess is the great unifier,” said Muradian. “It brings people together regardless of age, race, gender or ethnicity. People don’t even need to speak the same language to play a game of chess with each other. Bringing people together is one of the things that drives my passion to promote chess and bring it to the forefront of our culture and society.”

Ruan Lufei to Appear at North American Chess Center, Skokie, IL

Great news!

The North Shore Chess Center's March Master Simul / Lecture will feature WGM Lufei Ruan. WGM Ruan was the runner up in the 2010 World Women's Chess Championship! She will provide us insights on her experiences of the championship tournament, review 2-3 games from the event and take questions and answers from the audience.

The lecture will begin at 4pm on March 12. The event is free to members of the North Shore Chess Center and $10 for non-members. You can join for membership up to the beginning of the event!

Space is limited to the first 50 registrants.
Members maintain priority registration over non-members.

North Shore Chess Center
5500 West Touhy Avenue Suite A | Skokie, IL 60077
(p) 847.423.8626 | (f) 847.779.0324

Website.

Ruan Lufei Nearly Did It - With No Support from the Chinese Government

From The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
By Bob Bauder
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, December 25, 2010

Ruan Lufei, from official 2010 WWCC website

Lufei Ruan lost the woman's world chess championship Friday, but acquaintances in Pittsburgh say she gained international recognition for herself and the city with her remarkable climb to the tournament final.

"The whole chess world is stunned right now," said Alexander Shabalov, 47, a four-time U.S. chess champion from Squirrel Hill. "Basically, she jumped way over her head. She was pretty much a few moves away from becoming a world champion, which is every chess player's dream. I'm sure it's just a heartbreaker for her."

Ruan, 23, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, lost the title in a tie-breaker to chess prodigy Hou Yifan, 16. Both played for the Chinese team in the tournament held in Hatay, Turkey.

In an e-mail, Ruan said she was happy to have performed well but exhausted after playing for nearly a month with one day's rest.

"I think there are three reasons why she beat me," Ruan said. "Firstly, she is really a good player, and unlike me, she plays chess every day. Secondly, I played tie-break in every round, so I have played for 20 days with only one day rest. Finally, she has two coaches here, but I'm fighting alone. My coach is in China."

Kevin Mo, 15, a chess master from Franklin Park, said Ruan mainly competed against professional players. He found it remarkable that she beat all but one. Mo lost a game to Ruan last month and said he followed her every move in the tournament through the Internet.

"For her to balance studying and playing in the tournament, and for her to get this far is quite impressive," said the 10th-grader at North Allegheny High School. "It's good for chess in Pittsburgh. We now have a world championship contender here in Pittsburgh."


Indeed, Ruan's run at the Championship is an incredible accomplishment and worthy of the greatest recognition and admiration.  Need I point out the incredible irony that this Chinese player (and don't we all love to hate China these days?) did so by utilizing a combination of mental toughness, courage, and true grit that we Americans admire so much and tout as our particular national perogative?

She nearly did it! She didn't have a coach, she didn't have financial support from the Chinese government or Chinese chess establishment, she was the neglected "other" of the Chinese chess team, presumably passed over at 23 as "too old" to amount to anything and headed toward a business career in any event -- and SHE - NEARLY - DID - IT!

You go, girl!  Good for you!  I take my hat off to you.  I would love to shake your hand in the hope that some of your "magic dust" would perhaps rub off on me :)  I don't know what your plans are once you earn your degree, but I hope you will stay here and go to work for a quintessential American - the Oracle of Omaha (and I don't mean Oral Roberts).

Ruan Lufei Attends American College

Imagine that.

From The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
CMU student aims to be chess queen
By Craig Smith
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student is hoping to return to Pittsburgh as the women's world chess champion -- if she can play David to her opponent's Goliath.

Lufei Ruan, 23, a student at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business who is playing for China, beat Xue Zhao, also of China, to reach the finals at the world championships in Hatay, Turkey, on Saturday. She's playing another Chinese player, Hou Yifan, 16, for the title this week.

Their first match Monday ended in a draw, which some observers count as a good sign for Ruan. But Yifan struck back Tuesday and led in the four-game match.

"Her nerves are very good," Alexander Shabalov, a four-time U.S. chess champion who lives in Squirrel Hill, said of Ruan, who defeated defending champion Alexandra Kosteniuk on her way to the finals. Ruan declined to be interviewed.

Strong nerves are needed in the high-stakes game, said Carnegie Mellon doctoral student Iryna Zenyuk, 24, a women's international master from Ukraine.

According to World Chess Federation rankings, Yifan is No. 3 in the world with 2,591 points; Ruan is rated No. 21 with 2,480 points.

"I would say Ruan is probably considered the underdog," said chessmaster Jerry Meyers, scholastic director of the Pittsburgh Chess Club in Squirrel Hill. "(Yifan) is young, but she's amazed a lot of people."

"She really has done the Cinderella story," chessmaster Bruce Leverett of Mt. Lebanon said about Ruan. "Yifan is one of the top prodigies in the world in either sex."

Although Pittsburgh counts other chess champions among its residents, Leverett said it's rare to have this kind of talent in the city. Hans Berliner came to Pittsburgh, for example, after winning his correspondence world championship.

"It doesn't happen. ... She's the second-strongest player (behind Shabalov) in Pittsburgh now," Leverett said of Ruan.

Ruan leads the Carnegie Mellon team that plays in the Pittsburgh league, Zenyuk said.

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - R5 Play-offs

From official website:

The second semi-final match was decided on tie-break today. Ruan Lufei joined Hou Yifan, who has promoted from the classical games, in the final. The first rapid game was drawn again but in the second one Ruan Lufei, playing with black pieces, defeated her compatriot Zhao Xue. "The result that I have now is just unbelievable! I had a back ticket on December, 13 because I thought I would be eliminated by Kosteniuk and go home”, said the second winner of the semi-final match. She also explained that she was not afraid to play tie-breaks, but it was not a strategy or intention to make draws in the main games on purpose.

After the rest day on 19 th of December the finalists Hou Yifan and Ruan Lufei will play four classical games from 20th till 23rd of December.

News coverage on the WWCC:

From The Times of India
Humpy leaves, paving way for a Chinese queen
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, Dec 19, 2010, 01.03am IST

CHENNAI: There will be a Chinese queen in the women's World Chess Championship at Hatay. As Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy left the stage in the semi, losing to 16-year-old Hou Yifan 0.5-1.5, the final will now be a Chinese affair.

Yifan, who is a step away from creating a record for becoming the youngest women's (or open) world champion, will meet either Zhao Xue or Lufei Ruan, in the four-game final from Monday.

For Humpy, it was a second successive defeat in the semifinals of the World Championship and what must hurt her is the fact that both of them were inflicted by Yifan. Humpy has a good record against all the women GMs but against Yifan, she seems to have problems.

From the Hindustan Times.com
Humpy out of World Championship
Press Trust Of India
Hatay, Turkey, December 18, 2010

Koneru Humpy crashed out of the World Women's chess championship after drawing the second game of the semifinal match against nemesis Yifan Hao of China. Having lost the first game of the semis, Humpy needed a victory in the return game to stay afloat in the championship but, missing out on her chances, the Indian could only manage a draw translating in to a 0.5-1.5 defeat for her.

In the last World Championship at Nalchik in Russia too, Humpy had suffered a similar defeat in the semis at the hands of the same opponent.

The ouster of Humpy means end of the road for the Indians in the Championship and it will now be an all Chinese affair for the first time in the history of World Championships.

The other semifinal between Chinese duo of Zhao Xue and Ruan Lufei, meanwhile, was stretched to the tiebreaker following another quick draw between the two.

Humpy had troubles negotiating the first phase of the match against Yifan who certainly appeared to be better prepared than Humpy. It was Berling defense by Humpy that cost her the full point in the first game and in the second, it was a Sicilian through transposition that the Indian has not quite been facing lately.

Yifan had to pause for quite sometime when Humpy went for the Torre attack with white pieces after opening with the queen pawn and in fact it worked out fine when the Chinese was able to transpose to a Sicilian defense in a few moves time. The set up chosen by Humpy was a mixture of Najdorf and Classical variation and Yifan felt the heat after she decided to part with a couple of pawns to initiate an attack against the king.

Humpy, and the chess pundits, believed that she had real chances with her extra material but as things unfolded, Yifan was able to muster just the right kind of counter-play to liquidate to a rook and pawns endgame where only white could be worse. Humpy made the right decision to take the draw in 45 moves.

Full article.

U.S. Chess Federation Website
All-Chinese Final at the Women's World Championships
December 17, 2010
(Includes Game 1 that can be played through)