26 Oct 06
A 12 year old Chinese girl, Yifan Hou, was the highest rated player in the World Girls Chess Championships recently held in Armenia. She was one of four players who finished on 9/13, and was second on tie-break.
Her ascent has been so quick that she not only isn't yet a WGM, but she isn't even a WIM! Her FIDE title is WFM, which is awarded to any woman player who can demonstrate how the knight moves.
She isn't quite as good as Judit Polgar at that age, but Polgar's rating didn't go up for years afterwards. Hopefully Yifan Hou will continue to improve in her teens.
26 Oct 06
1 edit
Originally posted by SquelchbelchJudit Polgar is seriously good, but at the age of 12, when she was the highest rated player of either sex ever, it looked like she might be even better.
Judit Polgar has been 8th rated player in the world a while back.
I don't suppose there's any chance that she will ever become World Champion now, but she did manage to duff up Topov a few days ago! Was that the highest graded player ever beaten by a woman?
