LaviChess

Hou Yifan

Hou Yifan of China became women's world chess champion in 2010, at 16, and is the youngest player to have won the title. She won it four times. In the three title matches she played, she did not lose a single game.

Hou Yifan
Photo: Andreas Kontokanis, 2016. CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and toned.
  • BornFebruary 27, 1994, Xinghua, China
  • CountryChina
  • Women's world champion2010–2012, 2013–2015, 2016–2017
    Three reigns
  • In the line of women's championsNo. 13 of 17
  • Highest rating2686 (March 2015)
    FIDE's official lists (from July 1971)

The road to the title

Hou Yifan was born in 1994 and learned chess when she was very young. She became a grandmaster at 14 and is the youngest woman ever to have reached that title. In 2008 she reached the final of the women's championship in Nalchik but lost to Alexandra Kosteniuk.

The title matches

Hou Yifan's points come first, then wins (+), losses (−) and draws (=) in the classical games. A tiebreak at faster time controls is given separately.
YearAgainstResultWhere
2008Alexandra Kosteniuk1½–2½
Lost · the final of FIDE's knockout		Nalchik
2010Ruan Lufei2–2, tiebreak 3–1
Won the title · the final of FIDE's knockout		Antakya, Turkey
2011Koneru Humpy5½–2½ (+3 −0 =5)
Kept the title		Tirana
2013Anna Ushenina5½–1½ (+4 −0 =3)
Won the title		Taizhou, China
2016Mariya Muzychuk6–3 (+3 −0 =6)
Won the title		Lviv

Four titles

In 2010 she won the knockout tournament in Antakya, Turkey, after a tiebreak against Ruan Lufei in the final. The following year she defended her title in a match against Koneru Humpy of India.

In 2012 she went out in the second round of a new knockout and lost the title, but in 2013 she won it back in a match against Anna Ushenina. In 2016 she won the title for a fourth time, in a match against Mariya Muzychuk. In her three title matches she won ten games and drew fourteen.

Matches only

Hou Yifan wanted the title to be decided in matches and felt that chance played too large a part in knockout tournaments. She did not take part in the knockouts of 2015 and 2017. In March 2015 she reached her highest rating, 2686.

Sources

  • Wikipedia: Hou Yifan
  • Store norske leksikon: Yifan Hou
  • Chess.com: Hou Yifan
  • OlimpBase: the knockouts of 2008–2012 and the title matches of 2011–2016
  • FIDE: Hou Yifan's rating history

The facts on this page come from the sources above, checked against each other. Where the sources disagree, only what they agree on is given. The match results are also checked game by game.

Updated November 8, 2026