Xie Forces Karpov into Draw in Cross-Sex Tournament

Chinese Xie forces Karpov into a draw in Cross-Sex Tournament

Current women's world chess champion Xie Jun of China on Sunday forced Russian great Anatoly Karpov into a draw in the first of a six-game unprecedented cross-sex tournament in Guangzhou.

For the first time in the game's history, a women's world championship title holder is challenging her men's counterpart, in the form of Russian grand master Karpov, who lost his world crown last year.

The battle lasted more than four hours and Karpov accepted the draw offer after running out of regular time.