SUMMER STUDIES

While on a 1953 summer program at Harvard, JACQUES CHIRAC, then 20, was a waiter at a local restaurant. There, as biographers record, he fell for a "Southern belle." Her identity was unknown to the public until now, when the magazine Paris Match followed a magnolia trail to Columbia, South Caro-lina, and discovered FLORENCE HERLIHY. She fondly remembers how they tooled about in a white Cadillac. He called the 18-year-old beauty "Ma cherie"; she called him "Honey Chile." She introduced the future President to "American life, hamburgers and music"; he taught her how to kiss. Chirac wanted to marry, but their parents intervened and the sweethearts parted. Divorced after a 37-year marriage to a Navy officer, the gracious grandmother of two has just sent Chirac a note with a recipe for semoule de mais. That's grits, honey chile.

YES, BUT WHERE'S THE REAL KING OF CHESS?

Two men--ANATOLY KARPOV, 45, and the bespectacled GATA KAMSKY, 22--are duking it out in the ongoing World Chess Federation title face-off. Two other powerful men loom behind every move. Kamsky's father and coach Rustam, who masterminds his son's brilliant career, is on hand for the matches in Elista, capital of the remote Russian republic of Kalmykia. Also hovering but not present is Gary Kasparov, the world's No. 1 player. He defeated Karpov in 1985 and then set up the breakaway Professional Chess Association. Whoever wins, Kasparov will still hold the throne. But Elista's divvied-up $2 million purse should be sweet consolation.

UP-TO-DATE IN BEIJING

People tell WAYHWA, 32, they liked her better as an anchorwoman. Dismissed for appearing on the U.S. news program Nightline during 1989's Tiananmen protests, she streaked her hair and joined a rock group. Last year she changed her name from Wang Weihua. Now she has a solo album, Modernization, and says, "I do want to push people, make them think." Uh-oh, there she goes again

SEEN & HEARD

For those who were outbid at the auction of Jackie O.'s knickknacks, there's always one of Elton John's flashier discards. An AIDS charity benefited from the sale in Atlanta of 4,000 shiny shoes, glitzy glasses and designer concert costumes donated by the pop star. Say, what kind of closets does this man have?

In his upcoming book, Jack and Jackie: Portrait of an American Marriage, Christopher Andersen reveals that Marilyn Monroe was frisky indeed the evening she sang Happy Birthday to J.F.K. At a party for him later that night, Monroe headed for a window to do a striptease for government sharpshooters stationed on a roof nearby. That's patriotism.