China Dominates Women's World Chess Championship

Xie Jun Qualifies for Women's World Chess Final

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Chinese women chess players have once again proved they are the best and strongest in the world, as China's defending champion Xie Jun entered the final of the ongoing 2000 Women's World Chess Championship after beating her semifinal opponent Ekaterina Kovalevskaya of Russia in tie-breakers in New Delhi on Monday, December 11.

With Xie's teammate Qin Kanying, who beat Yugoslav veteran Alisa Maric with one win and one draw in two standard games on Sunday, already in the final, China has already secured its hold on the women's crown, which Xie first won in 1991, defended in 1993 and recaptured in 1999.

Xie and Qin will play four matches starting Tuesday for the title and the 120,000 US dollar winner's prize. The only mystery Chinese chess fans would like to solve is whether Xie will retain her title under the newly-adopted knockout competition format or Qin will become the second Chinese and non-European to win the crown.

This will be the first time in the history of chess, a European-dominated game for decades, that two Asian players are competing for a world title. Xie, who seized the women's crown from Russia's Maia Chiburdanidze in 1991, was the first Asian world chess champion.

"The result could be more ideal," said Ye Jiangchuan, head coach of the Chinese national team and also Xie's special advisor."I feel extremely satisfied with the performance of our players."

The results also showed that Chinese players have taken an overall lead in women's chess across the world, he added.

Though obviously stronger and much more experienced than her Russian opponent, Xie played two hard games in both of the 25-minute tie-breakers. It took as many as 94 moves from the white-playing defending champion before she could checkmate the black, and this match was said to be the longest one since the opening of the championship.

"In the second match Xie was also temporarily in a dangerous situation," Ye commented, "But she was calm enough to set a trap for Kovalevskaya and the latter fell into it, thus managing a draw."

"Now with both contenders being Chinese, I can have a good relax and just enjoy the fun of the game," added Ye, who believed the clash between Xie and Qin would still be "very intense".

The two are really close in their chances to win, as Qin has been in an excellent shape in the current championship but Xie won more in their past clashes, Ye explained.