SANTIAGO (AFP) - Antarctica will host its first international chess match this weekend, between former world champion Hou Yifan of China and Chilean grandmaster Cristobal Henriquez, officials said Thursday.

The match, which will be played at a Chilean base, will be held either Saturday or Sunday, depending on weather conditions.

"There is no precedent in the world of chess of an international match being played in Antarctica," Beatriz Marinello, vice-president of the World Chess Federation, told Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.

The match, which will be broadcast on the website of the Chilean Chess Federation, is part of commemorations to mark the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of South America.

"Playing against a number-one is a dream, and doing it in Antarctica makes me doubly happy," said Henriquez, considered his country's best player.