Hungo Chess Babes Checkmate the Competition

We've never been big fans of chess, having early on discovered that all of our glibness and charm wasn't worth a farthing if the other guy actually knew how to play. But we're sure thinking about giving the game another look, after hearing that two of Hungary's leading chess amateurs - including the obviously quite brilliant Tamara Bolváry (pictured above, looking game for a little blitz before bed) - have just come out on top in the World Chess Beauty Contest.

We got word of the Hungarian victory from blogger Rick Bruner, who said the triumph of Bolváry and runner-up Kinga Harsányi (left) was less than shocking. "Of course, being good at chess and being hot are two of Hungary's leading talents, so it comes as no surprise." And while we had a tough time figuring out exactly how the WCBC is conducted (actually, we had a tough time just figuring out how to log into the site and ogle the contestants) another blogger says the criteria are also not so obscure.

According to Jay Niemann, who apparently tipped Bruner off about the contest, there are apparently eight requirements for participating in the WCBC:

• being hot
• being a ranked chess player
• being hot
• actually being pretty good at playing chess
• a willingness to degrade the intellectual pursuit of playing chess really well down to a leering level
• being hot
• being from an Eastern Bloc Country
• being hot

Other than being good at chess and being hot, hot, hot, hot, we don't have much additional information on our two new champs. Bolváry is from Kecskemét, and is apparently 19, while 17-year-old Harsányi hails from the western border town of Mosonmagyaróvár. According to the website of the Hungarian Chess Association (Magyar Sakkszövetség), Tamara's world ranking is 35,783, while Kinga pips her slightly, coming in at 32,628. Then again, we've always hated chess.