Xu Yuhua (October 29, 1976) holds the Woman Grandmaster title and in the January 2006 FIDE list had an ELO rating of 2502, making her the 6th highest rated woman in the world. On March 25, 2006 she won the Women's World Chess Championship against the runner up IM Alisa Galliamova of Russia by taking 2.5 points on the third game of a four game match for the title.

Zhu Chen (born March 16, 1976) is an International Grandmaster. At the age of 25 she defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia in a Knock Out Tournament for the 2001/2002 Women's World Chess Championship, by 5-3, becoming the eleventh champion.

In 1988 Zhu became the first Chinese player to win an international chess competition when she won the World Girls Under 12 Championship in Romania. She won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship in 1994 and 1996.

She is married to Qatari Grandmaster Mohammed Al-Modiahki, and so now represents Qatar.

Xie Jun (born October 30, 1970) is from Beijing. Her career began with Chinese chess at the age of 6. At 10, she became the girls' Chinese chess champion. After being urged to play Western FIDE chess, she became the Chinese girls' champion of FIDE chess in 1984.

She was the eighth and tenth women's world chess champion, first from 1991 to 1996, and again in 1999 until 2001, and is only the second woman to hold the title twice.

In 1991, Xie Jun won the women's world championship for the first time, winning a match against Maya Chiburdanidze, who had held the title since 1978, by a score of 8.5 - 6.5. In 1993 she successfully defended her title against Nana Ioseliani (winning their match 8.5 - 2.5) before losing in 1996 to Zsuzsa Polgar 8.5 - 4.5. In 1999 she won the title back, defeating Alisa Galliamova 8.5 - 6.5 after FIDE controversially stripped Polgar of her title. 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 2.5 - 1.5 in the final.

Despite these achievements, Xie Jun has never been ranked number one in the world among women by FIDE. Judit Polgar, who refuses to play in women-only events, has held that place for as long as Xie has been playing at the top level.

She was an important factor in the Chinese women's team winning the gold medal at the 1998 Chess Olympiad in Elista in Kalmykia, Russia.

Around the end of the 1990s, Xie Jun was reading for a doctorate in psychology.

Xie Jun spends most of her present time working as an official in the Beijing Sports Commission, taking care of chess players and other sports people.

Galliamova,A (2467) - Xu Yuhua (2502) [E13]
FIDE WCh Women KO Ekaterinburg RUS (6.3), 25.03.2006
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 b6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Ne4 11.Bxd8 Nxc3 12.Bc7 Na6 13.Bf4 Ne4 14.Nb5 g5 15.Be3 Ke7 16.Rd1 d5 17.f3 Nf6 18.Bd4 Rhd8 19.e3 Rd7 20.h4 Nc7 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.c5 a6 23.Nxc7 Rxc7 24.cxb6 Rc6 25.a4 Nd7 26.a5 Nc5 27.Bc3 Na4 28.Bb4+ Kf6 29.b3 Nc5 30.Rb1 Nd7 31.Be2 Rc2 32.Rh6+ Kg7 33.Rh5 Kf6 34.g3 Rac8 35.f4 gxf4 36.gxf4 Ra2 37.Rd1 Nc5 38.Bc3+ Ke7

Alisa Galliamova has been doing fine, but now, just two moves before the time control, she starts slipping. 39.f5 (39.Rh7 followed by 40.Bb4 would have been more convincing) 39...Ne4 40.Bb4+ Kf6 41.Bd3 Rg8. The white advantage has almost completely evaporated, Black is on the attack. 42.Rh6+ Ke5 43.Rh1 Rg3 44.Bxe4 Rxe3+ 45.Kf1 dxe4 46.fxe6 Kxe6 47.Rh6+ Kf5 48.Rd7. White abandons her king to launch her own attack. But this gets her into deep trouble.

48...Rf3+ 49.Ke1 Rxb3 50.Bd2 e3 51.Bc1 Rb1 52.Rc7 Bf3 53.Rhc6 (desperation) Bxc6 54.Rxc6 Raa1 55.Ke2 Rxa5 56.Bxe3 Rb2+ 57.Kf3 Rb3 58.Rc7 Re5 0-1.

Zhu Chen (2494) - Krush,Irina (2466) [D26]
Accoona Women's Championship New York City, USA, 01.03.2005
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Qe2 cxd4 8.Rd1 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Nxd4 Qc7 11.Nxc6 Qxc6 12.e4 a6 13.Bg5 b5 14.Bb3 Bb7 15.Rac1 Qe8 16.a3 Rc8 17.e5 Nd7 18.Bf4 Nb6 19.Ne4 Nd5 20.Bg3 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Qa8 22.Nd6 Bxd6 23.exd6 Rc8 24.Qd2 Rxc1+ 25.Qxc1 Qc8 26.Qxc8+ Bxc8 27.Kf1 Nf6 28.f3 Kf8 29.Ke2 Ke8 30.Kd3 Kd7 31.Kd4 Kc6 32.Bc2 h6 33.Be4+ Nxe4 34.fxe4 f6 35.e5 fxe5+ 36.Kxe5 Kd7 37.Bh4 Bb7 38.Be7 Bxg2 39.Bf8 h5 40.Bxg7 Bf3 41.Bh6 Bd1 42.Bf4 Bf3 43.Kd4 Kc6 44.Kc3 a5 45.Kd4 Bd1 46.Ke5 Kd7 47.Bd2 a4 48.Bf4 ½-½.

Morozevich, A (2625) - Xie Jun (2510) [C45]
It Pamplona ESP (4), 30.12.1998
[Mig; Gurevich,M; Games from the ChessBase Megabase 99]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 [5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5=] 5...bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 [9.Nd2] 9...0–0–0 10.g3 '!?' Gurevich,M.

[10.Bb2 Re8 11.g3]

[12.Bg2 fxe5 13.0–0 h5 (13...g6!?) 14.Qd2 Nf6 15.Qa5 Bb7 (15...Kb7?! 16.Re1 d6 17.Bxc6+±) 16.Ba3 (16.Qxa7 Qc5) 16...Qe6 17.Bxf8 (17.Qxa7 Qg4) 17...Rhxf8 18.Qxa7 Qg4 19.Na3! Abgabezug. Ð…–Ð… Kasparov,G-Karpov,A/Lyon/New York 1990/CBM 21/[Gurevich,M] (40); 12.f4?!]

[13.Bg2 fxe5 14.0–0 g5 15.Re1 Bg7 16.Nc3 Kb8 17.a4 h5 18.Ba3 Qd8 19.a5 Nc8 20.Ne4 d6 21.Qb4+ Nb6 22.axb6 axb6 23.Bc1 Bb7 24.Qa4 d5 25.Bxg5 1–0 Socko,B-Kostyra,S/Krynica 1997/CBM 61 ext (25)]

The first new move of the game, and it looks stronger than 15.Bg2. It’s also more active, fitting in with Morozevich’s style. One comment I remember reading about Morozevich years ago that still holds true, he knows how to get the type of positions he likes!

[15.Bg2 fxe5 16.0–0 Qf7 17.Rd1 Bc5 18.b4 Bd4 19.b5 Bxb2 20.Qxb2 cxb5 21.cxb5 Bb7 22.Bxb7 Kxb7 23.Nc3 e4 24.Nd5 e3 25.fxe3 Ne7 26.a6+ Kc8 27.Nxc7 Kxc7 28.Qc3+ Nc6 29.bxc6 d5 30.Rab1 Kd6 31.Rb5 Qf3 32.Qc5+ Ke6 33.Rxd5 g6 34.Rb7 0–1 Coelho,L-Batista,G/Brasilia 1998/CBM 65 ext (34)]

Xie Jun is also known for her aggressive manners, but the pawns on c7 and c6 are ugly runts now. 15...d5!? is a little crazy but offered Black some chances to unwind her pieces. Or, White would probably sac the e-pawn after the defensive 15...Rd8 16.0-0 fxe5 17.Re1 d6 18.Bg2 with a lot of play for the pawn.

Of course not 17.Qxe8?? Bb4+ winning the queen.

[18...Bd4 19.Ne4!]

Why trade into a pawn-up ending when you can keep your queen in a dominating position and attack?

20...Rd8? [...Rhf8] 21.Nd5!+- Now it’s over Rxd7 22.Nxf6 Rd2 23.Nd7+ Ka8 24.Bxe5 Bb4 25.Bxc7 Nc5??

A blunder in a lost position. Now it's mate in 6.