Rating
Rated 2639 in the March 2012 FIDE rating list, Hou is the second highest rated female player and the highest rated girl player in the world. She is also the youngest person in any of the FIDE's "top players" lists.
On 1 July 2006, she was the youngest ever female player to enter the Top 50 Women (Number 8) and Top 20 Girls (Number 2) FIDE lists at age of 12 (rated 2488), since FIDE began releasing these lists in 2000.
Between the April 2006 and July 2006 FIDE rating lists, she gained an impressive 190 rating points from a rating of 2298 to a rating of 2488, which made her the eighth highest rated female player, and the second highest rated girl, in the world.
| Rating list | Rating | Games | Change | National women's ranking |
Women's world ranking (Girl's) |
World ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2004 | 2168 | 23 | – | 40 | 662–667 | – |
| April 2004 | 2168 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 657–659 | 23776 |
| July 2004 | 2153 | 7 | −15 | 63 | 755–763 | 20601 |
| October 2004 | 2153 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 782–788 | 27081 |
| January 2005 | 2144 | 3 | −9 | 44 | 834–845 | 28770 |
| April 2005 | 2158 | 13 | +14 | 42–43 | 763–769 | 26586 |
| July 2005 | 2158 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 760–763 | 26896 |
| October 2005 | 2220 | 25 | +62 | 28 | 470–475 | 16973 |
| January 2006 | 2269 | 12 | +49 | 21 | 291–294 | 10606 |
| April 2006 | 2298 | 6 | +29 | 16 | 204–207 | 7959 |
| July 2006 | 2488 | 41 | +190 | 3 | 8 (2) | 855 |
| October 2006 | 2481 | 19 | −7 | 4 | 10 (2) | 942 |
| January 2007 | 2509 | 30 | +28 | 3 | 8 (2) | 673 |
| April 2007 | 2513 | 22 | +4 | 2 | 6 (2) | 646 |
| July 2007 | 2523 | 25 | +10 | 2 | 4 (2) | 565 |
| October 2007 | 2502 | 19 | −21 | 3 | 8 (2) | 742 |
| January 2008 | 2527 | 67* | +25 | 2 | 5 (1) | 549 |
| April 2008 | 2549 | 22 | +22 | 2 | 4 (1) | 386 |
| July 2008 | 2557 | 35 | +8 | 2 | 4 (1) | 363 |
| October 2008 | 2578 | 40 | +21 | 1 | 3 (1) | 267 |
| January 2009 | 2571 | 15 | −7 | 1 | 3 (1) | 309 |
| April 2009 | 2590 | 29 | +19 | 1 | 3 (1) | 220 |
| July 2009 | 2584 | 21 | −6 | 1 | 3 (1) | 256 |
| September 2009 | 2585 | 9 | +1 | 1 | 3 (1) | 254 |
| November 2009 | 2588 | 30 | +3 | 1 | 3 (1) | 237 |
| January 2010 | 2590 | 14 | +2 | 1 | 3 (1) | 240 |
| March 2010 | 2570 | 18 | −20 | 1 | 3 (1) | 320 |
| September 2010 | 2578 | 25 | +8 | 1 | 3 (1) | 311 |
| November 2010 | 2591 | 23 | +13 | 1 | 3 (1) | 248 |
| January 2011 | 2602 | 23 | +11 | 1 | 3 (1) | 206 |
| March 2011 | 2602 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 (1) | 209 |
| May 2011 | 2612 | 20 | +10 | 1 | 3 (1) | 193 |
| July 2011 | 2575 | 24 | −37 | 1 | 3 (1) | 335 |
| September 2011 | 2578 | 33 | +3 | 1 | 3 (1) | 327 |
| November 2011 | 2578 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 3 (1) | 322 |
| January 2012 | 2605 | 20 | +27 | 1 | 2 (1) | 211 |
| March 2012 | 2639 | 10 | +34 | 1 | 2 (1) | 129 |
| May 2012 | 2623 | 29 | −16 | 1 | 2 (1) | 165 |
| July 2012 | 2617 | 15 | −6 | 1 | 2 (1) | 177 |
| August 2012 | 2599 | 23 | −18 | 1 | 3 (1) | 235 |
| September 2012 | 2599 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 (1) | 236 |
| October 2012 | 2605 | 9 | +6 | 1 | 3 (1) | 216 |
| November 2012 | 2606 | 6 | +1 | 1 | 3 (1) | 214 |
| December 2012 | 2606 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 (1) | 219 |
- bold, new peak rating
- * Most number of games played in a quarter by a female player in FIDE rating history
Read more about this topic: Hou Yifan