莉莉瑪蓮 (Lili Marleen)

The queen of chess, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), the only one that can make the hell a heaven, showed up in grand style on a gala dinner yesterday night in Moscow, Russia, in the white city of Nâzım Hikmet’s best days, to raise her song to all tombs of all unknown soldiers of all wars and to bless all souls.
Today, she just made her debut cameo in the unofficial chess “Tournament of Stars”, an independent brand developed by her old friend Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, a former Vice World Champion who paid his loyalty to his master by his chess career.
Of course 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) was perfectly aware of what her choice would have entailed due to her status of chess world’s woman Number One. Indeed, and not unsurprisingly, her joining the “Z” tournament promptly earned her harsh criticism, especially from her Slavic detractors, as well as from Magnus Carlsen’s mentor, Peter Heine Nielsen, who, from the very beginning of the so-called “special military operation”, pledged to recommend a punitive, zero tolerance line against all Russian people, regardless of their involvement and responsibility in any warmongering campaigns and policies. By the irony of fate Nielsen’s protégée will be playing on the same team as 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) in the forthcoming FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Team Championships, scheduled to begin in Astana, Kazakhstan, on August 1, but, in this case, he decided, at least apparently, to close an eye to the presence of the matryoshka queen of China.
Beyond the vulgar storytelling of “who are the good guys and who are the bad guys”, however, one can and should wonder why a high-ranking diplomat such as 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) willingly exposed herself and her dear ones, through her prayer for peace and love, to the threats and reproaches of Western and Slav war ultras.
They will say, that money is the basis of everything, and yes, it is true that a very important person in China once said, “to get rich is glorious”. But in her case? No, she did not need to be showered with rubles and dessert vouchers. She needs nothing except what she does not have. Next July, she will take a tour of the United States, but in such case her detractors, who manage to make ends meet solely through Uncle Sam’s dollars, will not dare accuse her of being venal — i.e., of being “a material girl in a material world”.
Good money, bad money? Just wars, unjust wars?
No doubt war ultras need you to make easy sense of their Manichean trivialisations and dichotomies. They say they are the “right side of history”, and it matters little that their “fair world” is littered with jails and cemeteries where to lock up and bury anyone and everyone who doubts their doctrine.
侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) aims much higher than going to war to kill other human beings. She is a cultured lady and an university professor of Education. She believes in peace and arbitration. Wicked warmongers and hireling slanderers cannot even touch her without risking being turned into a still life of rusty rifles and melting of bullets.
Anyone who knows her knows what is worth her heart, and what is not.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) enjoyed her moment on the red carpet at the dinner gala at Peach restaurant in “Moscow Silk” business district on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. In the name of female solidarity she also posed for a group photo with Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno, and Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina. Photos: Irina Anisina/photobyirsn.com.