A Day of Summer

“Maybe it's because I haven’t played chess for three months”, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) (pictured above) said, commentating on the results of the first day of her match with Ponomariov. She regretted especially the loss of the first game, which she unexpectedly lost on time. “I wasn’t able to tune myself. I thought I had time enough, but no. Game over”, she said. In the second game, she finally found back her inspiration, and won quite convincingly... even if only on a Chinese screen: elsewhere the game ended – some hours later – as a draw! At the end, in the last two games she felt quite flattered. So there’s no reason to despair: “I still hope to get back up to my standard as sooner as possible, so as to enjoy my playing”. But as a compensation, when stepping in her summer black evening dress, she was the only one who took over the stage. Photo: 樊璐璐 (Fán Lùlù).