The 1991

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 ...

was won by

Xie Jun Xie Jun (born October 30, 1970) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and is the first Asian woman to become a chess grandmaster. She had two separate reigns as Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2001. Xie is one ...

, who defeated the incumbent champion

Maia Chiburdanidze Maia Chiburdanidze ( ka, მაია ჩიბურდანიძე; born 17 January 1961) is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. She is the sixth Women's World Chess Champion, a title she held from 1978 to 1991, and was the youngest one until ...

in the title match.

1990 Interzonals

As part of the qualification process, two

Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the Ca ...

tournaments were held in the summer of 1990, one in

Azov Azov (, ), previously known as Azak ( Turki/ Kypchak: ), is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. The population is History Early settlements in the vici ...

in June and the other in the

Genting Highlands Genting Highlands is a hill station located on the peak of Mount Ulu Kali in the Titiwangsa Mountains, central Peninsular Malaysia, at 1800 metres elevation. Located in the state of Pahang, it was established in 1965 by the late Malaysian busi ...

in Malaysia in June and July, featuring the best players from each FIDE zone. A total of 36 players took part, with the top three from each Interzonal qualifying for the Candidates Tournament. Kachiani and Galliamova shared first place in Azov, half a point ahead of Klimova-Richtrova, who also advanced to the Candidates. In Genting, ex-champion Gaprindashvili scored an impressive victory at the age of 49, one point ahead of the almost 30 years younger surprise star Xie, while Marić took the last spot in the Candidates after winning a playoff against Gurieli 3-2. : :

1990 Candidates Tournament

The six qualifiers from the Interzonals were joined by the top two from the previous Candidates: Ioseliani and Akhmilovskaya. Like the previous two cycles, the Candidates Tournament in this cycle was contested as a round-robin tournament in Borzomi in October 1990. Somewhat unexpectedly, the two 20-year-olds Xie and Marić tied for first place. Xie won the playoff in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

and

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 ...

in February 1991 by 4½-2½, earning the right to challenge the reigning champion for the title. :

1991 Championship Match

The championship match was played in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

in 1991. In a result that came as a surprise to most of the chess world, the relatively unknown Chinese challenger Xie won 4 games (against 2) and the match, ending Chiburdanidze's 13-year reign as world champion. :

References

{{Women's World Chess Championships Women's World Chess Championships 1991 in chess 1991 in Philippine sport 1991 in women's sport