FATAL DAME: SHE KNOWS NO FAILURE
侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), pluri Women’s World Chess Champion and youngest ever Grandmaster, cultivates many other passions.
Jasmina Slacanin, Coopération, August 28, 2017 (Published in the print edition of Coopération, No. 35, August 29, 2017, pp. 84-85)
侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), pluri Women’s World Chess Champion and youngest ever Grandmaster, cultivates many other passions.
Jasmina Slacanin, Coopération, August 28, 2017 (Published in the print edition of Coopération, No. 35, August 29, 2017, pp. 84-85)
Sweet, feminine, self-confident and very talkative, the young Chinese has made chess a passion but not an obsession. Photo: Joel Schweizer. |
侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) just “fell into it” when she was young. In 2008, at only 14 years old, she was the youngest female player ever to get the title of Grandmaster, and in 2010 the youngest ever to win the Women’s World Chess Championship. Since then, she has accumulated distinctions and remains today the highest ranked female player in this fascinating world.
Her style of play is attacking. Her eyes show no emotion. We met in Biel/Bienne a few weeks ago, on occasion of the 50th Biel International Chess Festival, which she won brilliantly, the 23-year-old Chinese welcome us dressed in an elegant white summer outfit, walking with ease on her dizzyingly high-heeled shoes. We are very far from the cliché of the chess player, quite neglected, a borderline serious nerd. During our encounter, a little girl, “侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s biggest fan” — according to her own mother — asks her to pose for a picture. 逸凡 (Yìfán) wholeheartedly accepts. Throughout our interview, she dismantles one by one all the stereotypes related to chess. First of all, she doesn’t devote all of her time to it, as her ranking might imply. She does not neglect either her social or family life. Furthermore, she is deeply engaged in her studies in international relations and sometimes she even does not train for weeks. “Chess is an important part of my life, but not all my life”, she sums up simply. She also finds the time to cultivate other passions such as literature, with a particular admiration for Stefan Zweig, whose works she quotes without a slip.
“My favourite figures are Pawns because they never retreat”
逸凡 (Yìfán) grows up successfully in a male universe, where professional female players remain rare. “We associate chess with a sport based on intelligence, of course, but also on competition. Most parents want their daughters to learn something more elegant like dance, music or Go, another very popular game in China”, the champ explains. Having participated for a long time in tournaments for women only, she now also competes against men in mixed-gender competitions. But why separate the two sexes? “If we consider other sport disciplines, women and men compete separately. Chess requires significant physical stamina because a game can sometimes last more than seven hours, without interruptions, with immense psychological pressure, where one has to make difficult decisions in just a few seconds”. 逸凡 (Yìfán), however, contradicts herself by defeating all her male adversaries at the Biel International Chess Festival.
Metaphor of life
Thanks to this “sport”, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) travelled the whole world, “a true opportunity which is not given to young people of my age in China”, she explains. When asked why chess fascinates her so much, she answers with wisdom and philosophy: “It is an excellent metaphor of life. My favourite figures are Pawns as they move always forward, never back. They are able to evolve and transform”. And just to emphasise: “Like in real life, if one really wants something, if one clings to a goal, one can become whoever one wants. It is a highly encouraging discipline indeed. It teaches us strategy, the importance to make sacrifices for achieving a goal and management of time”. Words of wisdom from a grande dame who has more successes than failures.
Her style of play is attacking. Her eyes show no emotion. We met in Biel/Bienne a few weeks ago, on occasion of the 50th Biel International Chess Festival, which she won brilliantly, the 23-year-old Chinese welcome us dressed in an elegant white summer outfit, walking with ease on her dizzyingly high-heeled shoes. We are very far from the cliché of the chess player, quite neglected, a borderline serious nerd. During our encounter, a little girl, “侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s biggest fan” — according to her own mother — asks her to pose for a picture. 逸凡 (Yìfán) wholeheartedly accepts. Throughout our interview, she dismantles one by one all the stereotypes related to chess. First of all, she doesn’t devote all of her time to it, as her ranking might imply. She does not neglect either her social or family life. Furthermore, she is deeply engaged in her studies in international relations and sometimes she even does not train for weeks. “Chess is an important part of my life, but not all my life”, she sums up simply. She also finds the time to cultivate other passions such as literature, with a particular admiration for Stefan Zweig, whose works she quotes without a slip.
“My favourite figures are Pawns because they never retreat”
逸凡 (Yìfán) grows up successfully in a male universe, where professional female players remain rare. “We associate chess with a sport based on intelligence, of course, but also on competition. Most parents want their daughters to learn something more elegant like dance, music or Go, another very popular game in China”, the champ explains. Having participated for a long time in tournaments for women only, she now also competes against men in mixed-gender competitions. But why separate the two sexes? “If we consider other sport disciplines, women and men compete separately. Chess requires significant physical stamina because a game can sometimes last more than seven hours, without interruptions, with immense psychological pressure, where one has to make difficult decisions in just a few seconds”. 逸凡 (Yìfán), however, contradicts herself by defeating all her male adversaries at the Biel International Chess Festival.
Metaphor of life
Thanks to this “sport”, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) travelled the whole world, “a true opportunity which is not given to young people of my age in China”, she explains. When asked why chess fascinates her so much, she answers with wisdom and philosophy: “It is an excellent metaphor of life. My favourite figures are Pawns as they move always forward, never back. They are able to evolve and transform”. And just to emphasise: “Like in real life, if one really wants something, if one clings to a goal, one can become whoever one wants. It is a highly encouraging discipline indeed. It teaches us strategy, the importance to make sacrifices for achieving a goal and management of time”. Words of wisdom from a grande dame who has more successes than failures.
(English translation by I, Robot)
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