Saturday, May 12, 2018

Time After Time

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) (centre), 上海 (Shànghǎi)’s girl, entered the 上邦 (Shàngbāng) International Hot Spring Hotel in 重庆 (Chóngqìng) and took his seat at the table at least twenty minutes in advance of the start of the 6th game of the “莱茵体育杯” (“Lander Sports Cup”) Women’s World Chess Championship match. She looked a bit worried and nervous in her professional disguise. She put her half a liter mineral water bottle next to herself on the table, and closed her eyes for a few moments, to compose herself. 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) (right), the city’s darling, instead, appeared quite late – but just in time – in an elegant black dress, with a cheerful makeup, smiling and self-confident. She put a cup of coffee next to herself on the table.
The 6th game, the first one of the World Queen’s second half, was a hard-fought, six-hour-long battle, which 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) ended up losing only three moves before she could claim a fifty-move rule draw. In the post-game press conference, the only one who was in the mood to have conversation was the press attaché 谷笑冰 (Gǔ Xiàobīng) (left). 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) says she still needs “to accustom herself to 重庆 (Chóngqìng)’s atmosphere”, but that she hopes for a quick normalisation, without anxiety with respect to the results. 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) says she had a good rest after returning to 重庆 (Chóngqìng). “On the other hand, my first act in 上海 (Shànghǎi) was really discouraging, so I’ll do my very best to go up the slope”. Photos: qipai.org.cn.

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