Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun has scored a convincing 6.5-2.5 victory over her challenger Tan Zhongyi in the Women’s World Championship match, held in China earlier this month. Tan took an early lead by grinding out a minuscule advantage in the second game, but Ju levelled the scores with an equally patient win in the next. She then took the lead in the fifth game, and never looked back. That was the first of four consecutive wins for Ju, where she repeatedly outclassed the challenger in her handling of technical positions.
Her margin of victory was surprising, since the two should have been very closely matched, according to their international ratings. With the exception of Hou Yifan, who all but retired from competitive play several years ago, Ju is the highest-rated woman, but she is only just ahead of her compatriots Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie. Still, she seems to produce something special when the world championship is at stake. This match marks her fifth victory since winning the title in 2018 with a narrow victory over Tan Zhongyi herself. Later that year, she defended her title by winning a knockout tournament, and then saw off challenges in matchplay against Aleksandra Goryachkina (2020) and Lei Tingjie (2023).
A valuable piece of chess wisdom states that ‘pawns do not move backwards’. That is to say, be wary of barrelling forward with pawns, because they lose the chance to ever defend the squares they have left behind. But experts also know when to break the rules. In the diagram position, Ju seizes the initiative with three strong pawn pushes, two directly in front of her king, correctly judging that she has nothing to fear once Tan’s knight is driven back to a passive position.
Tan Zhongyi-Ju Wenjun
Fide Women’s World Championship, Shanghai, April 2025
1 c4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 b3 d5 4 Bb2 c5 5 cxd5 exd5 6 g3 Nc6 7 Bg2 d4 8 O-O Be7 9 Na3 O-O 10 e3 dxe3 11 dxe3 Bf5 12 Ne5 Nxe5 13 Bxe5 Qc8 14 Qe2 Bh3 15 Qf3 Bxg2 16 Kxg2 Qe6 17 Bb2 Ne4 18 Rfd1 Rad8 19 Nc4 (see diagram) 19…b5! 20 Ne5 f5! 21 Nd3 g5! With f4 denied to the knight, it must retreat yet again.
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