Zhu Chen

Zhu Chen (born March 16, 1976, Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China) is a Chinese chess player who was the women’s world champion (2001–04).

In 1988 Zhu became the first Chinese to win an international chess championship, the girl’s under-12 section of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) World Youth Chess Festival for Peace, held in Timişoara, Romania. (The boy’s under-12 section was also won by a girl, Judit Polgár of Hungary.) Zhu also won the girl’s section of the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship, restricted to players under 20 on January 1 of the playing year, in 1994, held in Caiobá, Brazil, and in 1996, held in Medellín, Colombia.

Zhu’s compatriot Xie Jun was the first Chinese to become the women’s world chess champion when she defeated Maya Chiburdanidze of Georgia in 1991. For a variety of reasons, FIDE soon began having trouble financing world championship matches and started using “knockout” tournaments, involving very short matches and fast time controls for the games—for the men’s title in 1999 and for the women’s in 2000. Although Xie defended her title in New Delhi, India, by winning the 2000 knockout tournament, she did not participate in 2001. In the 2001 knockout tournament in Moscow, Zhu beat Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia in the final match; they split the regular games with two wins each and then each player won one game in a play-off at a faster time control, which then led to a still faster set of two “speed” games, both won by Zhu. Thus, Zhu won by a final score of 5 wins, 0 draws, and 3 losses. This also earned her the (men’s) International Grandmaster (GM) title.

In 2004, following a three-year hiatus in scheduling a women’s championship, FIDE again held a knockout tournament, in Batumi, Georgia. Citing the short one-month advance notice given to players, security issues with the site, and her pregnancy, Zhu declined to participate, thus ending her reign as champion.

Zhu married Mohamad Al-Modiahki, Qatar’s first grandmaster, in 2000, and the pair represent Qatar in international chess competitions.