The Kings vs Queens Match is being staged in Yong Chuan, China. It is a double round-robin tournament in which the participants build pairs.

Above is a first group picture was taken on Friday. Front row (left to right): WGM Zhao Xue (18, China, 2467); Xu Yuhua (China, 2485); GM Xie Jun (32, China, 2569); the son of the Yong Chuan City Mayor; GM Zhu Chen (27, China, 2495); the wife of the Yong Chuan City Mayor. Back row: GM Nigel Short (38, England, 2701); GM Evgeny Bareev (36, Russia, 2721); GM Ye Jiangchuan (42, China, 2683); GM Yasser Seirawan (43, USA, 2626).

At the technical meeting on Friday the players drew the number to choose their partners. Here are the list of the "couples":

• Team 1: Zhao Xue/Nigel Short
• Team 2: Xu Yuhua/Ye Jiangchuan
• Team 3: Xie Jun/Evgeny Bareev
• Team 4: Zhu Chen/Yasser Seirawan

Time controls are 25 minutes for each side with a 10 seconds increment. On Sept 13 and 15, there will be three rounds each day. The players will go to Ji Nan to play a Schveningen invididual tournament from Spet 16-21.

This is the second edition of such a mixed-double chess tournament in China. Last year the players were Nigel Short, Yasser Seirawan, Zhu Chen and Xie Jun. Now we have some new faces including Evgeny Bareev, who is famous for his great sense of humor. He and Xie Jun make a very weird match, as they have no opening systems in common, despite the fact that they have the highest rating among men and women players in this tournament. Bareev said to Xie Jun: "If you want an equal position, then you play d4. If you want an worse position, then you play e4." Xie Jun replied: "So we shall try Nf3 then."

Yin Hao, Chinese Chess Association