Of course, Hou regained the title - that she first won in 2010 - from Ushenina in 2013.
Steven DuCharme wrote:Liev,Ukraine will host the next world title match in March 2016. Go Winner!
I see that you are a neutral.
Some preliminary administrative details here -
http://en.chessbase.com/post/muzychuk-h ... iv-ukraine
This match is one of the more interesting Women's World Championships.
It's East v. West rather than Russia v. chips off the old Soviet block and a new unexpected winner of the title, Mariya Muzychuk, with her feet still firmly planted in women's chess, against a still youthful ex-champion, Hou Yifan, who has moved on to some very strong male events, like the one just ended in Dortmund.
With respect to some of what has been written above, it also has a hint of a young Judith Polgar playing her older sister. Judith bypassed the women's title and went straight to playing in top male events. In a sense this showed her sister players no mercy as they couldn't aspire to a match with the strongest female player in the world because she was out of reach on to a higher stage.
Still no sign of a challenger from these islands on the horizon as far as I can see.
Who was the last best hope (IM Harriet Hunt?), and will there ever be a British challenger?