Hou regains the crown

Hou Yifan vs Anna Ushenina

Women’s world championship · 2013 · 1-0

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0 / 79 half-moves

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A masterpiece, move by move

Hou’s seventh-game victory in the 2013 match returns the women’s title to her. Watch the rooks switch between the kingside and center.

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23. Rxh4

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Use the opened h-file. The rook captures the pawn on h4. With the h-file open, White’s queen and rook can approach Black’s king from the side.

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29. Rc3

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Switch the rook to a new file. The rook moves across the third rank to c3. It can later return to f3 to support the queen’s pressure against Black’s king.

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37. g5

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Open lines for the pieces. Hou advances the g-pawn. After ...Nxg5, Ng4 brings the knight into the attack while the queen and rook remain active around Black’s king.