Look out, here comes India! For the last three decades and counting, women’s chess in Asia has been synonymous with one thing: China. China has dominated the Women’s World Championship with six different champions claiming 15 of the last 20 titles. China has been the only Asian country to win the Women’s Chess Olympiad, which they have done six times in the last twelve editions. And China has produced the most GMs of any country in the world with ten, the only country in Asia with multiple GMs besides India who only just got to three. But all of that is about to change! Not because China isn’t the best anymore (they still are!), but because now India is coming. And Asia has absorbed Russia. And even the relatively small Kazakhstan could be shaping up to be a huge power in the years to come.
