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Xie Jun set to meet KarpovXie Jun, reigning world champion of women's chess, is due to challenge Anatoly Karpov, her childhood idol, in another historic "battle of the sexes" in Guangzhou on Friday.Xie is now preparing for the widely focused match with the three time Russian world champion, Lin Feng, the secretary-general of the Chinese Chess Association said. The contest marks the second between world top male and female players following the match played by Judit Polgar, then the top-ranked woman, and Boris Spasky, the 1972 world champion, in 1992. Although Xie has openly admitted that she is by far the underdog, Lin said Xie still has a shot to defeat Karpov. Lin said Karpov, a chess legend, is regarded as the master of theory and is especially dexterous in playing chess according to fixed theory. "Xie's opportunity may only lie in the unexpected trick halfway during the set," Lin said. "Actually Xie is quite good in a midway battle. Anyway, a tie with such a chess master would in no way mean Xie would lose face." Karpov was the world champion in 1993, 1996 and 1998, defeating Gan Timman, Gata Kamsky and Viswanathan Anand respectively. At nearly 50 years old, Karpov enjoys high prestige in the international chess circle, though he gave up the privilege to defend his crown in Las Vegas last year due to a scheduling bust-up with chess' governing body. In contrast, Xie, age 29, learned chess by studying Karpov's chess manual, and only recorded one tie and one loss in two informal contests with Karpov. But as the current women's world champion, Xie is marching towards maturity after experiencing both glory and upset.
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