Hou Yifan almost there!

Hou Yifan needs only half-a-point more

In the seventh match game Humpy Koneru played the Zaitsev variation in the Spanish. Despite the choice of a relatively active choice, World Champion Hou Yifan kept control throughout. Indeed she picked off one pawn towards the time control and a second one shortly afterwards. The technical phase took time, but Hou Yifan's third victory was always inevitable.

So summing up the seventh match game:

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	Moves	Opening
Hou Yifan	2578	CHN	1-0	Humpy Koneru	2600	IND	97	Spanish Zaitsev

So Hou Yifan now leads by three points with only three games to go:

Name	Rating	Country	Age	Highest ever rating	World rank	Points
Hou Yifan	2578	China	17	2612 (May 2011)	3	5
Humpy Koneru	2600	India	24	2623 (July 2009)	2	2

The earlier games of the match went as follows:

The first game:

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	Moves	Opening
Humpy Koneru	2600	IND	0.5-0.5	Hou Yifan	2578	CHN	80	Catalan Opening

The second game:

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	Moves	Opening
Hou Yifan	2578	CHN	0.5-0.5	Humpy Koneru	2600	IND	42	Petroff's Defence

The third game:

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	Moves	Opening
Humpy Koneru	2600	IND	0-1	Hou Yifan	2578	CHN	37	Queen's Gambit Ragozin

The fourth game:

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	Moves	Opening
Hou Yifan	2578	CHN	0.5-0.5	Humpy Koneru	2600	IND	58	Spanish Open

The fifth game:

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	Moves	Opening
Hou Yifan	2578	CHN	0.5-0.5	Humpy Koneru	2600	IND	58	Spanish Open

The sixth game:

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	Moves	Opening
Humpy Koneru	2600	IND	0-1	Hou Yifan	2578	CHN	38	Nimzoindian Defence

More information from the World Chess Federation website:

http://www.fide.com/

and

http://www.wwcc2011tirana.com