Hou clinched her victory at the tournament in Lopota in the second-to-last round. It was another dominating performance and illustrated how much distance Hou has put between herself and other top female players. She is closing in on Polgar, who has never competed in women-only tournaments or women’s championships. But since 2005, Polgar has slipped from No. 8 to No. 66, and it is possible that Hou could overtake her in the rankings.

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With Hou, an intimidation factor might have been at work in Georgia. Several opponents imploded, partly because they were in a hurry to trade pieces with her to try to achieve a draw.

In the top diagram, from Round 5, Antoaneta Stefanova, a former women’s world champion from Bulgaria, had unwisely postponed castling in order to attack Hou’s d pawn. That allowed Hou to start an attack with 11 d5. The game continued 11 ... Ncd4 12 Nd4 Nd4 13 de6 Be6 14 Be3 Ne2 15 Qe2 Qc6 16 Nd5 Bd5 17 cd5 Qd5 18 Bf4 Kf8 19 Rfd1 Qf5 20 Bd6 Kg8 21 Rac1 h5 22 Rc7 b5 23 Rd3.