Intl women's chess championship held in Xi'an

The Belt and Road Initiatives' 2022 Women's Chess Masters World Championships kicked off on Jan 7 in the city of Xi'an – capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – and ran for two days.

The event was hosted by the Chess and Cards Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of China, the Chinese Chess Association and the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Sports.

Guo Qi (right) plays a friendly match with a foreign male amateur chess player in Xi'an. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

The competitors in Xi'an included six Chinese chess players – Guo Qi, Ning Kaiyu, Zhai Mo, Xiao Yiyi, Ni Shiqun and Li Xueyi.

Socko Monika from Poland, Khotenashvili Bela from Georgia, Stefanova Antoaneta from Bulgaria, Assaubayeva Bibisara from Kazakhstan, Efroimski Marsel from Israel, and Mamnadzada Gunay from Azerbaijan participated online.

Since the event moved to Xi'an in 2019, it has attracted the participation of many top players from home and abroad.

As a distinctive, high-level and effective international competition, it has popularized and helped chess develop in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Moreover, it has also boosted Xi'an's competitive exchanges and other forms of friendly interactions with other countries.