Sujatha Srinivasan reports from the venue (Hyatt Regency, New Delhi)

15 Dec 2000 New Delhi

Women's Final Xie Jun beats Qin Kanying

Xie Jun crowned champion for the fourth time.

Xie Jun defended her title in an all-Chinese world women chess championship finals. Xie drew the final game of the match with Qin Kanying. Qin said afterwards that she would "I will try next time".

Xie lost the World Title to Zsuzsa Polgar who was controvsersially stripped of the title over a conflict over the scheduling of her defence.

A chat with Qin Kanying. (After she lost the world chess championship women final to Xie Jun)

Q. How did you feel when playing the finals?

A. It was difficult for me to play. I was running out of stamina.

Q. What do you think went wrong in the finals?

A. I made a mistake in the first game and I lost. That really made my task difficult. In the end I couldn’t do anything to recover.

Q. What do you think about your game now?

A. I am confident now. Next time I will do better.

Q. What are your plans now?

A. First I will take a rest and then think about it.

Q. What do you think is your advantage in chess?

A. I think my ability at rapid chess is my advantage. (she recently tied for the first place in a rapid tournament in china played among all top the Chinese players including the men)

Men's Semi-Final Viswanathan Anand beats Michael Adams

Vishy Anand easily drew the last game of his semifinal match against Adams and entered the finals. Adams who gave himself only a 5% chance to win today’s had to be content with a draw.

A chat with Adams.

Q. What do you think about today’s game?

A. I had slight edge in the opening but then all Anand wanted was a draw and I couldn’t do anything.

Q. What do you think in general about your performance in this match?

A. I always had a slight edge in the openings but could do nothing. We have been playing each other since we were both juniors and he was always better. He has been stronger for long time and this gives him a bit more confidence.

FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov looks on as Adams and Anand play their final game.

Q. You said home ground would put extra pressure on Anand. What do you think about it now?

A. He got used to it after few days.

Q. What is your next tournament?

A. I will play Wijk Ann zee. First I will go home and rest.

Q. Who do you think will win the title?

A. Anand is the favorite to win but then I don’t know. It will be a close match.

Men's Semi-Final Alexei Shirov beats Alexander Grischuk

Alexei Shirov drew his game with Alexander Grishchuk to enter the finals. It was an interesting game where Grishchuk sacrificed a pawn to get the initiative and double bishop advantage. Shirov in turn gave back a pawn to advance his passed ‘c’ pawn. He eventually drew with perpetual check.

FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov looks on as Shirov and Grischuk

A chat with Shirov.

Q. What do you think about your semi-final match?

A. I didn’t have a rest day (he thought he might win in only three games after winning game one). But OK.

Q. How do you feel closing out this match without entering the tiebreak? (Shirov has played all the other tiebreaks so far)

A. Frankly speaking I didn’t think about it. It is an extra days rest.

Q. How do you feel being in the finals?

A. Fine I had qualified to play Kasparov but that didn’t materialize and now at least I am playing a world championship finals.

Q. Are you at a disadvantage against Anand as he is higher rated than you?

A. I don’t think it is a disadvantage. But Anand seems to be very fresh and has also prepared very hard for these championship. May be that is the difference. I played few events before these championships whereas he came into them fresh.

Q. Anand has remained unbeaten in this championship so far whereas you have lost few games. What do you think about it?

A. It’s true. But I was not eliminated.

Q. What are your prospects in the finals?

A. I will fight.