The Golden Touch

• Leonard Barden, Chess: Magnus Carlsen to face arch rival Anish Giri in opening round at Wijk, The Guardian, January 10, 2020

China’s 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), 28, took a 2½–1½ lead on Thursday in her women’s world title defence against Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina, 21. Their 12-game series has a record prize fund — €500,000 — for any women’s world championship, though this is still only a fraction of what Carlsen and his challenger will earn later this year. The first half is in 上海 (Shànghǎi), with a 7.30am start, and the second half at Vladivostok from 5.30am. For most of this century the women’s title has been decided by a 64-player knockout, leading to a rapid turnover of champions, but the format has now reverted to a candidates tournament and a title match. Nigel Short is trebling up as chairman of the appeals committee, official match commentator and FIDE representative. The women’s match which would attract most interest from chess fans, between the two clearly best players of all time, has never happened except for a single game in the 2012 Gibraltar Open. Judit Polgár v 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is the female version of Bobby Fischer v Anatoly Karpov, the legends match that never was. It could still happen if Rex Sinquefield, who organises many similar events at St Louis, gets involved. [Read more].