Zhu Chen, the Chinese – Qatari Chess Queen

Photo courtesy of ChessBase

Chess queen making all the right moves

World champion chess master Zhu Chen is now a Qatari citizen and is representing the Asian Games hosts as she battles for gold against opponents from her former hometown.

“They were all my old team-mates, but right now, we have to sit on the opposite side of the board and try to win for different countries,” said Zhu Chen at the on-going Doha Asian Games.

Zhu won a bronze medal at the women’s Rapid Swiss with a 6-3 record on Monday. “I know it is a complicated feeling. But as a professional chess player, you must be focused on the competition,” she said.

“Whether it is a world championship or the Asian Games, all you have to do is to win rather than think of anything else.”

The International Grandmaster was married to local counterpart Mohamad al-Modiahki, Qatar’s first-ever Grandmaster. The unlikely pair met in 1994 at a match in Malaysia. Then, the 18-year-old Zhu could barely speak English, so the pair had to resort to playing out their love on a chessboard.

“There are many combinations with the king and the queen that are quite beautiful,” says Zhu, with a wink.

They started the romance against the wishes of both families and also lots of Chinese fans and officials. But the couple married in 2000 in China. Zhu confronted the opposition with characteristic determination. “Nobody could have stopped our marriage,” she said.

Now having had a two-year-old girl, Zhu begins to pay more attention to her family rather than on the chess board. “After you get married and have a baby, life is different. I want to spend more time with my husband and baby. Competition is just part of the life but not the most important one any more.”

The full article can be read here.