Zhao Xue (; born 6 April 1985) is a Chinese

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player. She is the 24th Chinese person to achieve the title of Grandmaster. Zhao was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese team at the

Women's Chess Olympiad The Women's Chess Olympiad is an event held by FIDE (the International Chess Federation) since 1957 (every two years since 1972), where national women's teams compete at chess for gold, silver and bronze medals. Since 1976 the Women's Chess Olympia ...

in 2002, 2004 and 2016, and at the Women's World Team Chess Championship in 2007, 2009 and 2011. She has competed in the

Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship is a chess match played to determine the Women's World Chess Champion. It has been administered by FIDE since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute World Chess Championship, which only came under FIDE's ...

in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018, reaching the semifinals in 2010.

Career

Zhao won two gold medals at the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...

s, in the Girls Under 12 section, in 1997, and in the Girls Under 14, in 1999. In 2002, she won the World Junior Girls Championship in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

, India, edging out defending champion

Koneru Humpy Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Humpy is a runner-up of the Women's World Chess Championship and the reigning two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In 2002, she became the youngest female player--and ...

on tie-break. This victory qualified her to the Women's World Chess Championship 2004, in which she knocked out Shadi Paridar in the first round, then lost to

Elisabeth Pähtz Elisabeth Pähtz (born January 8, 1985, sometimes spelt Elisabeth Paehtz) is a German chess Grandmaster.Women's World Chess Championship 2006, in which she lost in the first round to Maria Kursova. Later in the same year, she took part in the

2006 Asian Games The 2006 Asian Games (), officially known as the XV Asiad or 15th Asian Games (, and commonly known as Doha 2006 (), were an Asian multi-sport event held in Doha, Qatar, from December 1 to 15, 2006, with 424 events in 39 sports featured in the ga ...

, held in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, and won the silver medal in the women's individual rapid chess event. In July 2007, she won the Queens Woman Grandmasters tournament in

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (, ) is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg ...

and tied for first place with former women's world champion Zhu Chen in the women's supertournament North Urals Cup in Krasnoturinsk, Russia after both finished on a score of 6/9, but placed second on tiebreak. In this tournament she also achieved her final "

norm Norm, the Norm or NORM may refer to: In academic disciplines * Normativity, phenomenon of designating things as good or bad * Norm (geology), an estimate of the idealised mineral content of a rock * Norm (philosophy), a standard in normative e ...

" required for the title of Grandmaster; the first one was gained at the 2006

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

awarded her the title in 2008. In the

Women's World Chess Championship 2008 The Women's World Chess Championship 2008 took place from August 28, 2008 to September 18 in Nalchik, Russia. It was won by Alexandra Kosteniuk, who beat Hou Yifan in the final by 2½ to 1½. For the fifth time, the championship took the form of ...

, Zhao was knocked out in the second round by compatriot Shen Yang, after defeating Marisa Zuriel in the first. In the following month, in October 2008, she won the silver medal in the women's individual rapid event at the

World Mind Sports Games The World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) was a multi-sport event created by the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) as a "stepping stone on the path of introducing a third kind of Olympic Games (after the Summer and the Winter Olympics)". The ...

, which took place in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Zhao took part in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–11, for which she qualified via rating. Her best results were third place at Nanjing 2009 and shared 3rd-5th in Ulaanbaatar 2010 events. In November 2010, she took part in the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

, held in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, and won the silver medal in the women's individual rapid chess event. In December 2010, she participated in the

and this time she reached the semifinals, where she lost by 1½-2½ to her compatriot and eventual runner-up Ruan Lufei. This result enabled her to qualify for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011–2012. In the leg held in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, Zhao scored 6/11 and finished in joint 5th-6th place along with Ruan Lufei, earning her 75 points in the Grand Prix. In October 2011, she won the

Nalchik Nalchik (, ; ; ) is the capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan (Beslan is in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania). It covers an area of ...

stage, with a score of 9½/11. In July 2012, she finished seventh in

Jermuk Jermuk () is a mountain spa town and the centre of the Jermuk Municipality of the Vayots Dzor Province in southern Armenia, at a road distance of east of the provincial capital Yeghegnadzor. It was considered one of the popular destinations for ...

on 5½/11. In the

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

event, she placed third with 7½/11. In the Grand Prix overall standings, Zhao placed fourth with 345 points. In April 2012, Zhao won the 2nd China Women Masters Tournament in

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

. In the following month, she won the Asian Women's Blitz Championship, held in

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, on tiebreak over Wang Jue and

Tan Zhongyi Tan Zhongyi (; born 29 May 1991) is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of grandmaster (GM). She is a former Women's World Champion, winning the 2017 knockout edition of the world championship in Iran where she defeated Anna Muzychuk i ...

. At the Women's World Chess Championship 2012 she made it to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Dronavalli Harika. In January 2013, Zhao won the prize for best female player at the Masters event of the Gibraltar Chess Festival scoring 7½/10. She finished second, behind

Hou Yifan Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, three-time Women's World Chess Champion and professor at Peking University. She is the second highest Elo rating system, rated female player of all time.

, in the women's standard event at the

2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games The 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (), officially 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games () and also known as Incheon 2013 (), was a pan-continental event held in Incheon, South Korea from 29 June to 6 July 2013 that served as a dress- ...

. Soon after she won the women's

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London 1851 chess tournament, London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard ...

at the 2013 Summer Universiade in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, contributing to China's team gold. Zhao competed in the

FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14 The FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14 was a series of six chess tournaments exclusively for women, which formed part of the qualification cycle for the Women's World Chess Championship 2015. The winner of the Grand Prix was decided in the last stag ...

. In January 2015, she won the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Open with a score of 8/9. Zhao took part in the Women's World Chess Championship 2015, where she reached the quarterfinals, losing to the eventual runner-up, Natalia Pogonina. In the 2017 edition, she lost in the second round to Padmini Rout. In December of the same year, Zhao won the gold medal in the women's Basque chess event at the IMSA Elite Mind Games in

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. In November 2018, she took part again in the Women's World Championship; Zhao defeated Carolina Lujan in the first round by 2–0, then went out in the second after losing to Zhansaya Abdumalik in the tiebreakers.

Team competitions

Zhao, as a first reserve, scored 11 points out of 12 (

performance rating The PR (performance rating, P-rating, or Pentium rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of rival Intel. The idea ...

of 2723) on board 4 in the 2002

, held in

Bled Bled (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper Carniolan regio ...

. In next edition, held two years later in Calvià, she scored 10/12 on board 3 (performance rating of 2603) winning an individual gold medal. In 2006, she scored 10/13 on board 1 (performance rating of 2615) winning an individual gold. Zhao played first board on the Chinese women's team in the 2005 World Team Chess Championship held in

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

, Israel. Two years later, she led China to victory in the first Women's World Team Championship with a score of 6½/8 (performance rating of 2693). Zhao Xue plays for

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs play over the board and face to face chess a ...

in the China Chess League (CCL).

Honors since 2011

Individual * 2012: China Women's Masters, Wuxi, China * 2011: FIDE Women's Grand Prix, Nalchik, Russia Team * 2012: Asian Women's Nations Cup, Zaozhuang, China * 2011: FIDE Women's World Team Championship, Mardin, Turkey * 2011: China League Division A, Tianjin, China

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Xue 1985 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Female chess grandmasters Chess Woman Grandmasters World Junior Chess Champions World Youth Chess Champions Chinese female chess players Chess players from Shandong Chess Olympiad competitors Asian Games medalists in chess Chess players at the 2006 Asian Games Chess players at the 2010 Asian Games 21st-century Chinese chess players Sportspeople from Jinan Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Summer World University Games medalists in chess FISU World University Games gold medalists for China Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade