Only a Pawn in Their Game

• Dominic Lawson, When Players Become Pawns, Standpoint May 23, 2016

Until now, however, the women’s world championship had been mercifully free of such psychological warfare. But in a remarkably frank interview in the latest issue of the Dutch publication New In Chess, China’s [侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)] revealed just how much her recent world title match against Ukraine’s [Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk] had been disfigured by off-the-board tactics. From the start, the Chinese delegation had been concerned about illicit advantages that the 23-year-old world champion Muzychuk — a year 侯 (Hóu)’s senior — might be offered as a result of the event being staged in her home city of Lviv. So the Chinese team insisted that all radio signals to the auditorium be cut, and the transmission of the moves to those outside be delayed by half an hour. It was not until the day before the match started that the Ukrainian organisers conceded on this point, when it became clear that the Chinese would otherwise walk out. But as 侯 (Hóu) made plain in her interview, the home team took petty revenge for this imputation of dishonesty: “During the first half of the match, every day I would receive some complaint that was directly aimed at me personally, which really made me unhappy and it was disturbing. Minor issues, you cannot imagine. For example, after game two, they said I could not wear my jeans and sports shoes to the games. They said it was written into the contract. But there was nothing there. Not a single word”. 侯 (Hóu) also revealed how her opponent wrote to the arbiter that the Chinese grandmaster should not be allowed to continue to bring to the board the glass bottle with oil that she used as a kind of insect repellent. In fact 侯 (Hóu) never needed to open the bottle, so was understandably furious when Muzychuk insisted she was being disturbed by the smell the oil gave off. Anyway, none of these minor acts of provocation prevented 侯 (Hóu) from winning the match comfortably, by three wins to nil, with six draws. So she regained the world title she first won at the remarkable age of 16, and had relinquished only when she declined to defend it in 2015. After the events in Lviv, 侯 (Hóu) indicated that she was no longer prepared to take part in the women’s world championship; and given that she is so much stronger than any other active female player, it makes sense, as she said in her interview, to concentrate on the much tougher elite events in which all her opponents will be men: “This was just a match I wanted to finish. There are many stronger tournaments and bigger challenges in the future where I can try to be a better player”. I can only add that I know both 逸凡 (Yìfán) and Mariya. They are decent and scrupulous women. I very much doubt that, on their own, they would ever get involved in vexatious behaviour designed to undermine the psychological wellbeing of an opponent. The problem is that world championship matches are freighted not just with significance for the individuals concerned, but also national pride. When the latter is involved, especially with countries where sport has been thoroughly politicised, the players themselves can become the Pawns in a much bigger game — and one which is anything but sporting. [Read more].