Women's World Chess Championship 2011 Explained

Comp1:	Hou Yifan
Comp2:	Humpy Koneru
Title1:	Defending champion
Title2:	Challenger
Flag1:	China
Flag2:	India
Dob1:	27 February 1994
Age1:	17 years old
Dob2:	31 March 1987
Age2:	24 years old
Qual1:	Winner of the Women's World Chess Championship 2010
Qual2:	Runner-up of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–2011
Elo1:	2578
Elo2:	2600
Womens Rank1:	3
Womens Rank2:	2
Prev:	2010
Prev Link:	Women's World Chess Championship 2010
Next:	2012
Next Link:	Women's World Chess Championship 2012
Score1:	5½
Score2:	2½
Elo1 Ref:	^[1]

The Women's World Chess Championship 2011 was the 35th of its kind. It was organised by FIDE and was played in a match format between the defending champion and a challenger, determined via the FIDE Grand Prix series.^[2]

On 8 August 2011 the match was awarded to Tirana, Albania. The prize fund was $200,000.^[3] The match took place from 13 to 30 November 2011.^[4] Champion Hou Yifan retained her title,^[5] defeating challenger Koneru Humpy by 5½ - 2½.^{[6] [7] [8]}

Match format

The match was scheduled to be played over 10 games with classical time controls: 90 minutes for first 40 moves with added 30 minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment per move starting from the first move.

Koneru Humpy played White in the first game.^[9] Colours then alternated, except after game 4. The two players were ranked second and third in the world at the time, behind only Judit Polgár.^[10]

Should the match have been tied after ten games, tie-breaks would have kicked in. Those were:

• Up to four rapid games (25 minutes per player with a 10-second increment from the first move)
• two rapid games (5 minutes per player with a 3-second increment from the first move)
• One armageddon game that Black only needs to draw to win the match (5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black with a 3-second increment from move 61)

Match stats

Women's World Chess Championship 2011

	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
align=left	Koneru Humpy	2600	½	½	0	½	½	0	0	½	2½
align=left	Hou Yifan	2578	½	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	5½

After eight out of ten games the match was decided, by Hou Yifan drawing with Black and reaching 5½ points.

Head-to-head record

Prior to the match, Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy had played 16 games against each other at classical time control with the following statistics:^[11]

	Hou Yifan	Draws	Koneru Humpy	Total
Hou Yifan (White) – Koneru Humpy (Black)	5	2	0	7
Koneru Humpy (White) – Hou Yifan (Black)	3	4	2	9
Total	8	6	2	16

External links

• Official website
• Regulations for the Women's World Championship Match 2011
• Match in FIDE calendar

Notes and References

1. Web site: Top 100 Women November 2011 . FIDE . 1 September 2013.
2. Web site: Women's World Championship Match 2011. 19 May 2011. FIDE.
3. Web site: FIDE Awards Anand v Gelfand Match To Moscow. chess.com. 8 August 2011. 8 August 2011.
4. Web site: 2011 Women's World Chess Championship.
5. Web site: WWCC R08: Draw, Hou Yifan retains World Championship title. chessbase. 26 November 2011. 24 November 2011.
6. Web site: Humpy pulls it off – wins Doha GM and qualifies. March 5, 2011. ChessBase.
7. Web site: Koneru shares first with Danielian in Doha, qualifies for title match. March 6, 2011. chessvibes.com.
8. Web site: Koneru ties for first with Danielian in Doha and qualifies for World Title Match. March 5, 2011. chess.co.uk.
9. Web site: Opening ceremony: Koneru gets white pieces. wwcc2011tirana.com. 14 November 2011. 13 November 2011.
10. Web site: Women's November 2011 rating list. FIDE. 21 November 2011.
11. Web site: yifan-koneru search results. 2023-09-28.