 Xie,Curitiba 1993 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1970-10-30)October 30, 1970 (age 55) Baoding, Hebei, China |
| Chess career | |
| Country | China |
| Title | Grandmaster (1993) |
| Women's World Champion | 1991–1996 1999–2001 |
| FIDE rating | 2574 (November 2025) [inactive] |
| Peak rating | 2574 (January 2008) |
| Xie Jun | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 谢军 | ||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 謝軍 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Xie Jun (born October 30, 1970)[1] is a Chinesechessgrandmaster and is the first Asian woman to become a chess grandmaster. She had two separate reigns asWomen's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2001. Xie is one of three women to have at least two separate reigns, besidesElisaveta Bykova andHou Yifan. Xie Jun is the current president of theChinese Chess Association. In 2019, she was inducted into theWorld Chess Hall of Fame.[2]
Although born inBaoding,Hebei in 1970 and raised inBeijing, theancestral home of Xie and her parents isLiaoyuan,Jilin.[3] At the age of six Xie began to playChinese 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 second–fourth places at theWorld Junior Girls' Championship inAdelaide; as the highest-placed Asian player in the tournament, she earned theAsian Junior Girls' Championship title.[4][5]
At the age of 20 Xie won the right to challenge for the women's world title, and in 1991 she defeatedMaia Chiburdanidze of Georgia, who had held the title since 1978, by a score of 8½–6½.
In 1993 Xie successfully defended her title againstNana Ioseliani (winning the match 8½–2½). In the summer of 1994 she was awarded theGrandmaster title;[6] she was the first Asian woman to become a grandmaster,[7] and the sixth woman ever to be awarded that title. She lost the1996 Women's World Chess Championship toSusan Polgar of Hungary (8½–4½) but regained the title in 1999 by defeating another championship finalist,Alisa Galliamova (8½–6½), after Polgar refused to accept match conditions and forfeited her title.[8] In 2000,FIDE changed the format of the world championship to a knock-out system, and Xie won the title again, beating fellow Chinese playerQin Kanying 2½–1½ in the final.
InGuangzhou in April 2000, Women's Champion Xie played a match with formerWorld ChampionAnatoly Karpov.Billed as a "female vs. male chess contest", the match consisted of four games at normal time controls and tworapid games. The four-game portion was won by Karpov 2½–1½ (1 win, 3 draws), and the rapid-play portion also went to Karpov, 1½–½ (1 win, 1 draw).[9]
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 beingZhu Chen,Xu Yuhua, andWang Lei. She was also an important factor in the Chinese women's team winning the gold medal at the 1998Chess Olympiad inElista inKalmykia, Russia.
In July 2004, she was awarded the titles ofInternational Arbiter and FIDE Senior Trainer.[10] In April 2019, Xie Jun was appointed as the new president of theChinese Chess Association.[11]
Around the end of the 1990s, Xie was reading for adoctorate inpsychology atBeijing Normal University. By 2008, Xie Jun directed an agency in the Beijing region taking care of chess and Go talents.[12] She is married to her former coachWu Shaobin.[13][14]
谢军笑答："我是地地道道的吉林女儿啊！" 原来谢军虽然生在保定、长在北京，但父母却是吉林省辽源市人。
| Preceded by | Women's Chinese Chess Champion 1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Women's World Chess Champion First Reign 1991–96 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Susan Polgar, thenvacant | Women's World Chess Champion Second Reign 1999–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Tournament format | |
|---|---|
| Match format | |
| Knock-out format | |
| Alternating format | |
| Match format | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
