The World champion won the sixth game of the match and is now two points ahead of the challenger Humpy Koneru. Although White got an edge from the opening, the Chinese managed to equalize and break the position in the time trouble to come out as a winner.

The outcome is even more surprising when one knows that Hou Yifan spent several hours in the hospital the previous night.  17 years old experienced severe pains in her stomach aria and was immediately taken into the best hospital of Tirana by the organizers and FIDE officials. The doctors checked her medical condition, but the necessary tests proved there was no other problem, beside psychological pressure. Hou Yifan declined taking any pain killers. After this “preparation” for the game she nevertheless sat at the board in a perfect fighting condition and managed not only to neutralize chess preparation of the opponent, but take an upper hand.

In the next four games Koneru should fight two points back to survive in the match.  On the 22^nd of November the players have a rest day. The 7^th game of the match will be played on the 23^rd of November.

"Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich and Anna Burtasova with kind permission of FIDE”

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