In women's chess, there is a very talented player in the mainland, and she is also the player who won the first international championship for the mainland, she is Zhu Chen, such a female chess talent is really rare, which also makes many viewers have great expectations for her.
But everyone's expectations were obviously disappointed, because Zhu Chen gave up his Chinese nationality for his love and turned to Qatari nationality, and since then this extremely talented female player has not been seen in the Chinese chess arena.
Moreover, Zhuchen began to represent Qatar in the event after that, which also made former fans feel very angry, thinking that Zhuchen gave up his position and forgot his roots, so what happened to Zhuchen changing his nationality to participate?
Teenage genius
Zhu Chen was born in Zhejiang in March 1976, when Zhu Chen had excellent grades and rarely touched activities such as chess, but her cousin was different, compared to Zhu Chen, her cousin was selected to participate in the chess class.
This situation aroused Zhu Chen's curiosity, she began to understand the rules of chess, and then became interested in it, Zhu Chen's parents were also very supportive of her to find something she liked outside of her studies, and then paid for a teacher.
Zhu Chen, who regards chess as a hobby, did not think about what she could achieve, and this was also true for her parents, who thought that their children could use chess as an after-school relaxation program.
And at that time, Zhu Chen was still a little girl, and most of the children's interests were three-minute heat, even if Zhu Chen told them the next day that they wanted to learn something else, they would not be surprised, but who would have thought that the situation had changed.
Compared with people outside the industry such as Zhuchen's parents, the hired teacher clearly understands how amazing Zhuchen's own talent is, and in the face of such a good seedling, any teacher will see Hunter Xinxin, so this teacher persuaded Zhuchen to embark on the road of chess.
At this time, Zhu Chen's parents felt that their daughter seemed to have incredible talent, and immediately they invited a number of chess teachers, including Huang Xiwen, Ye Rongguang and other domestic famous players to teach her specifically.
The famous teacher and his excellent talent have far exceeded the expectations of Zhu Chen's parents, and at the 1988 World Chess Championships, when Zhu Chen was only 12 years old, he directly won the world championship in the children's category.
This result shocked Zhu Chen's parents, who would have thought that the tutor said that the talent was directly turned into the world champion, of course, this championship title did not make Zhu Chen stop.
In the years that followed, Zhu Chen participated in large and small competitions at home and abroad to perfect her skills, but her excellent chess skills led to the eventual victory of competitions that were originally long and insightful.
Although he looks relaxed on the surface, Zhu Chen himself also trains hard every day, and when Zhu Chen was young, he no longer had time to play, and sometimes even had to leave home thousands of miles to learn from famous chess players.
In order to know more chess paths, Zhu Chen traveled all over the world and was always on the go to study, and it was extremely difficult for teenage girls to endure this boring study life and give up the desire to have fun.
But Zhu Chen did it, and her high self-control allowed her to give full play to her talent, and at the same time, Zhu Chen's academic performance did not have problems, and in 1995, Zhu Chen was admitted to Tsinghua University and needed to face a higher level of study.
Zhu Chen did not give up her plans to play chess, it can be said that the time spent with her in chess is not shorter than the time spent studying, in order to balance the two, Zhu Chen can be said to have less time for other activities.
It is said that after going to college, it is very free, but for Zhuchen, it can be said that it is getting busier, and finally the study that Zhuchen should have graduated on time was finally delayed to 7 years before finishing college.
However, Zhu Chen's chess achievements are still worth remarking, not only winning many championships in women's tournaments, but also winning important nodes in mixed tournaments, such talent has made many people have high hopes for her.
In the 1997 Xiangqi National Tournament, Zhu Chen showed her superb strength and won the runner-up in this national chess player tournament, which also made the male chess players put aside their contempt and become her fans.
In the 1998 Olympic Games, Zhu Chen won the first chess championship medal on behalf of China, and then her name began to spread in the chess player world and even the whole society, and many people admired this girl who had been with chess since childhood.
A girl's encounter
Of course, as she grew older, Zhuchen also met someone she liked, and when Zhuchen came to Malaysia to participate in the City Championship, she did not expect to meet a relationship in addition to winning the championship.
In the Malaysian tournament, Zhu Chen, who has always been a rare opponent, did not pay much attention, after all, this type of event is relatively small, and it is not like that there will be many masters in that kind of large-scale event.
Zhu Chen had already participated in many international large-scale competitions at that time, although it was not her intention, but she did not have too many expectations for such events, and such emotions may make her chess path more radical.
In fact, in the first half, Zhuchen won four consecutive rounds with almost no effort, and her opponent basically had no decent resistance, but in the fifth round she met an opponent, Al Mohammed from Qatar.
This player is only a newcomer in the chess world, and he is 2 years older than Zhu Chen, and Zhu Chen originally did not care, because there were many seniors who lost under her, let alone newcomers, but it was obvious that this situation was not an ordinary situation.
Because Zhu Chen did not know that this Qatari boy was an elite player in his country and had a similar growth experience to her, that is, the chess skills that he really played along the way, and the competition between the two geniuses began.
At the beginning, Zhuchen could still rely on his talent and exercise in chess to go back and forth, but because of his poor mentality adjustment, he soon fell into decline, on the other hand, Muhammad, he has always maintained a stable state.
At the beginning, Muhammad showed all his strength, from deliberately laying traps to closing the net, especially in the middle of the game, Zhuchen just realized that Muhammad was not as simple as the chess player in front, and the game was already powerless.
Such pressure made Zhu Chen feel pressure in his heart, and finally he could only lose this match, of course, Zhu Chen's mistake would not be made a second time, so after Zhu Chen adjusted his mentality, he still won the Asian Women's Championship after that.
But Mohammed, a good opponent, failed to win the championship, facing the sad Mohammed, Zhuchen was a little unbearable, after all, he defeated his opponent, so he walked over and began to comfort Muhammad.
Even though China and Qatar were rivals in international competitions at that time, following the principle of friendship first, China's representative players admired this powerful opponent very much.
The moods of the two are very similar, and the situation of coming here to compete on behalf of the country makes them have more understanding, and the comfort of Zhuchen at this time is also very effective for Muhammad, plus they are both chess players who naturally communicate a lot.
Then both felt that each other's chess skills could play some enlightening role for themselves, and agreed to return to their home countries after leaving contact information for each other next time playing chess together.
Overcome barriers and form a family
After returning to their own countries, the two cherish each other, because they are similar in age and similar chess skills, and once they talk on the phone, they can have countless common topics.
After a period of communication, the two sides came together, but the two sides still faced many problems, such as different languages, and both sides had to translate to know each other's meaning.
But Muhammad cared so much about Zhuchen, and so did Zhuchen, who was willing to repeat it many times even if the language was different until the other person understood his mind, and the two began to learn each other's language.
Later, language was not a problem for each other, and then the two often went in groups in international tournaments, and there were mutual wins and losses, although the relationship was harmonious, but neither side of the chess competition was willing to admit defeat.
But this relationship was finally known by their parents, and both parents resolutely refused the choice of son and daughter, and for Zhuchen's parents, Qatar is polygamy, and it is naturally impossible to recognize such a result.
For Mohammed's parents, whose children are members of the royal family, there may be many problems marrying a woman from a foreign country, but these problems do not seem to exist for the two young men.
Zhuchen and Muhammad's resolute attitude made both parents helpless, to be honest, they also loved their children very much, and if their opposition made their children feel painful, then it was better to give up their own claims.
Subsequently, the two parties held a low-key wedding and have since formed a family. In 2001, Zhuchen went to a family in Qatar for the first time, because of the Qatari marriage system, so the status of men in the country is actually much higher than that of women.
But Muhammad really likes Zhuchen very much, so he changed his image and cared for Zhuchen, which made Zhuchen very moved, and also allowed her to have more time to study chess.
With such a solid backing, Zhu Chen participated in the Moscow World Championships in 2001 and won the women's championship, and after many years Zhu Chen's family got along like this, and her husband's support enabled her to devote herself to the arena to show her brilliance.
Because she has won more and more championship titles, she has gradually gained a large number of fans, and even named her the "most beautiful chess queen", but at the 2006 World Championships, Zhu Chen did not appear.
The change of nationality is controversial
It turned out that in 2004, Zhuchen gave birth to his first child, but according to Qatari regulations, because of nationality, Zhuchen could not stay here for a long time, which represented that Zhuchen could not accompany her daughter to grow up, which was extremely cruel for a mother.
Zhuchen, who returned to China, could only listen to her daughter's crying to her mother on the phone every time, feeling both sad and guilty, children are the only weakness of their parents, coupled with the feelings of Zhuchen and Muhammad, it can be said that Zhuchen has fallen into an extremely difficult situation.
Subsequently, Zhu Chen made up his mind and transferred to Qatari nationality, so in 2005, Zhu Chen applied, and the leaders of the Chinese Chess Academy at that time expressed great regret, but they could understand Zhu Chen's choice.
In this way, Zhu Chen could not replace China in the 2006 World Championships, and in the Asian Games, Zhu Chen participated in the battle instead of Qatar, which caused her fans to criticize her a lot, and even her family suffered from public opinion pressure.
In this situation, Zhu Chen was confused, she did not know how to be good, in 2008, Zhu Chen announced his retirement from the chess world, which also made the anger of Chinese fans drop a lot.
But after so many years, many people are curious about the current situation of Zhu Chen, whether he has given up the interest of chess, and Zhu Chen has not been indulging in negativity, but has been more active in a new life.
In contrast to other men, Mohammed ignored polygamy and instead married only Zhuchen, a situation that is rare for Qatari men, who used chess more as a concoction in the time after withdrawing from the tournament.
At home, he occasionally competed chess with his husband, and then told his daughter the story of the past, or the current life is exactly what Zhu Chen is looking forward to, a happy life with his family.
Of course, Zhu Chen's current state also makes her parents very gratified, as a parent, the biggest hope is to see the happiness of their children, and now Zhu Chen himself hopes to live such a life, then there is no problem.
After withdrawing from the tournament, Zhuchen moved from the front to the background and began to organize various chess tournaments, hoping to find more chess talents, and then promote chess activities.
In 2018, Zhu Chen was also elected FIDE treasurer, and it is a rare comfort for Zhu Chen to be able to continue her favorite chess career, and in the recent family photo, she is also in very good shape.
And in the face of criticism at that time, Zhu Chen's sentence "No matter where I go and who I represent to participate in the war, China is my root, I will not forget", has also been verified by some, because Zhu Chen's two daughters speak fluent Mandarin.
In 2023, at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Zhu Chen brought his daughter to the scene.
Zhu Chen's image is revealed in the exposed picture - she has long hair with a golden shawl, wears a pink suit, and wears a luxurious necklace worth more than 20,000 yuan around her neck.
Zhuchen reportedly competed in the Asian Games as a FIDE official, while her husband Al Mohammed participated in the same tournament as an Olympic official in Qatar. In addition, their youngest daughter Xinde also came to Hangzhou as a tennis player to participate in the Asian Games. Therefore, Zhu Chen said that he felt very lucky.
People will face many choices in their lives, and some choices may determine the direction of their lives, and Zhuchen can not regret her choices and keep going, proving that she also has her own answer in her heart.
Of course, Zhuchen will face more challenges in the future, not only in life, but also in work, but Zhuchen should have her own coping, in the chess field, can she also overcome difficulties in life?
Bibliography:
[1]. She was known as the "most beautiful chess queen", but gave up her nationality to marry Qatar, what happened to Zhuchen now?
https://www.toutiao.com/article/7087774343828259359/
[2] 20 years ago, the beautiful chess queen Zhuchen gave up her Chinese nationality and married away from Qatar.
https://www.toutiao.com/article/7179483434874962472/
[3] From the queen of Tsinghua chess to the "white-eyed wolf" in the chess world, he changed his nationality in order to marry the Qatari royal family!
https://www.toutiao.com/article/7283748514826469929/