Tan Zhongyi: Women’s Candidates favourite who was stunned by Vaishali, fed Indian-looking chess presenter spicy stir-fry and has interesting take on term ‘loser’ | Chess News
4 min readUpdated: Mar 30, 2026 05:38 PM IST Tan Zhongyi says she might come from Sichuan and Chongqing region that serves up some spicy fare, but she prefers bland food always. She however served up the spiciest of stir-fries to Lichess.org presenter Greek man Theophilus Wait, who she mistook for an Indian when he visited Chongqing, and chose from the menu expecting him to have a spicy palate. “I thought Yindu people (Indians) loved spice. So I took you to places with spicy stir fry,” she said. Talking to Lichess, ahead of the Candidates, the women’s winner from 2024, who has thrice finished runners up at World’s was all witty and philosophical, speaking about Chinese chess and women’s chess where the Chinese have ruled – so far. She is one amongst two Chinese at Cyprus, alongwith Zhu Jinner, and Tan said where the GMs came from often shaped their style of play. On debutant Zhu Jinner who comes from Zhejiang, Tan said, “She has a very sharp side. She and Ding Liren are from …
