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Xie Jun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Xie Jun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Xie Jun (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ;

pinyin: Xi Jn; born October 30, 1970, Baoding, Hebei)[1]
is a chess grandmaster from China. She had two reigns as
Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 and
again from 1999 to 2001. Xie is only the second woman to
have two reigns, the other being Elisabeth Bykova.

Xie Jun

In 1991, Xie became China's second Grandmaster, after Ye

Rongguang. Xie Jun is married to her former coach GM Wu
Shaobin.[2][3]

Contents
1 Career
2 See also
3 References
4 Further reading
5 External links

Career
At the age of six Xie began to play Chinese chess, and by the
age of 10 she had become the girls' xiangqi champion of
Beijing. At the urging of government authorities, she soon
began playing international chess. Despite indifferent training
opportunities, Xie became the Chinese girls' chess champion
in 1984. In 1988 she tied for secondfourth places at the
women's world junior championship.

Xie Jun, Curitiba 1993

Full name

Xie Jun

Country

China

Born

October 30, 1970

Baoding, Hebei, China

Title

Grandmaster (1991)

Women's
World
Champion

19911996
19992001

FIDE rating

2574
(http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?
event=8600147) (March 2015)

At the age of 20 Xie won the right to challenge for the

Peak rating 2574 (January 2008)
women's world title, and in 1991 she defeated Maya
Chiburdanidze of Georgia, who had held the title since 1978,
by a score of 86. In 1993 she successfully defended her title against Nana Ioseliani (winning the match 8
2). She lost the title to Susan Polgar of Hungary in 1996 (84) but regained the title in 1999 by defeating
another championship finalist, Alisa Galliamova (86), after Polgar refused to accept match conditions and
forfeited her title.[4] In 2000, FIDE changed the format of the world championship to a knock-out system, and Xie
won the title again, beating fellow Chinese player Qin Kanying 21 in the final.
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In Guangzhou in April 2000, Women's Champion Xie played a match with former World Champion Anatoly
Karpov. Billed as a "female vs. male chess contest", the match consisted of four games at normal time controls and
two rapid games. The four-game portion was won by Karpov 21 (1 win, 3 draws), and the rapid-play portion
also went to Karpov, 1 (1 win, 1 draw).[5]
A hero in China, Xie became widely known for her optimism and vivid attacking style. Her success did much to
popularize international chess in her country and the rest of Asia. Xie Jun proved to be the first of a number of
strong Chinese women players, the others being Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua, and Wang Lei. She was also an important
factor in the Chinese women's team winning the gold medal at the 1998 Chess Olympiad in Elista in Kalmykia,
Russia.
Among women, Xie has been the number 2 or number 3 highest rated woman for much of her career.
Around the end of the 1990s, Xie was reading for a doctorate in psychology at Beijing Normal University. Xie Jun
now spends most of her present time working as an official at the Beijing Sports Commission, taking care of chess
players and other sports people.[6]
In July 2004, she gained the titles of International Arbiter and FIDE Senior Trainer.[7]

See also
Chess in China

References
1. "" (http://www.chessinchina.net/html/CHNrating05.8.htm). Chessinchina.net.
Retrieved 2011-12-21.
2. "Intchess Asia Pte Ltd" (http://www.intchessasia.com/site/trainers.htm). Intchessasia.com. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
3. Relatives and Spouses of Chess Masters (http://www.webcitation.org/query?
url=http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/relative.htm&date=2009-10-25+09:50:51)
4. "The Week in Chess 242" (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic242.html#11). Chesscenter.com. Retrieved
2011-12-21.
5. "THE WEEK IN CHESS 284" (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic284.html#3). London Chess Center. 17 April
2000.
6. "Nanjing: Bu draws first blood in Super-GM" (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5076).
Chessbase.com. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
7. "World Chess Federation" (http://www.fide.com/index.php?
option=com_fidetitles&view=appsdt&cat=4&per=5&aid=30101970). FIDE. Retrieved 2011-12-21.

Further reading
Xie Jun (1998). Chess Champion from China: The Life and Games of Xie Jun. Gambit Publications,
London. ISBN 1-901983-06-4. An annotated collection of many of Xie's games along with some
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biographical information.
Forbes, Cathy (1994). Meet the Masters. Tournament Chess. ISBN 1-85932-041-4. A book containing
interviews with many famous chess players.

External links
Official Blog (http://blog.sina.com.cn/xiejun)
Xie Jun (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=11045) player profile and games at
Chessgames.com
"I am not a professional" (http://www.chess-mate.com/xiejunn.htm) interview
Preceded by
Qin Kanying

Women's Chinese Chess

Champion
1989

Succeeded by
Peng Zhaoqin

Preceded by
Maia Chiburdanidze

Women's World Chess Champion First

Reign
199196

Succeeded by
Susan Polgar

Preceded by
Susan Polgar, then vacant

Women's World Chess Champion

Second Reign
19992001

Succeeded by
Zhu Chen

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Xie_Jun&oldid=653163297"

Categories: Living people 1970 births Chinese chess players Chess grandmasters
Chess woman grandmasters Women's World Chess Champions People from Baoding Xiangqi players
Beijing Normal University alumni Sportspeople from Hebei
This page was last modified on 23 March 2015, at 14:58.
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