In what's being described as "a friendly match," top chess players from China are in Seattle this week to compete with a US team in an International Summit Match.

The match begins Wednesday and ends Sunday.

The Chinese team includes Xie Jun -- the current Women's World champion -- and three of the top 40 men in the world, organizers said Wednesday.
The US team includes Irina Krush, famous for leading the World team against Russian chess superstar Garry Kasparov, and winners of the most recent United States championships.

Also on the US team are National Junior Champions Dmitry Schneider and Hikaru Nakamura.

(China Daily 03/15/01)