She is the reigning Women's World Chess Champion, the youngest ever to win the title, as well as the youngest ever female player to qualify for the title of Grandmaster.

At the age of 12, she became the youngest ever player to participate at the FIDE Women's World Championship (Yekaterinburg 2006) and at the Chess Olympiad (Torino 2006). In June 2007, she became China's youngest ever National Women's Champion.

She achieved the titles of Woman FIDE Master in January 2004, Woman Grandmaster in January 2007, and International Master in September 2008 by reaching the final of the Women's World Championship.

In 2010, she became the youngest World Chess Champion in history (men's and women's!) by winning the Women's World Championship in Hatay, Turkey at the age of 16.

Hou became a winner of Women Grand Prix 2010-2011 and will defend her world champion title in the Women's World Chess Championship 2011 against Koneru Humpy later in 2011.

In January 2011, Hou Yifan was recognized as the best Sportsperson of the Year in China involved in a non-Olympic sport.

Interviews:

http://nalchik2010.fide.com/6th-round-press-conference.html

http://ulaanbaatar2010.fide.com/interview-with-hou-yifan.html