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Apr-14-25
 | | offramp: 
click for larger view
53...h2 & 0-1. |
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Apr-15-25
 | | ketchuplover: mega kudos to the winner |
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Apr-16-25
| | offramp: Game 9 is in progress.
[Event "FIDE WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH 2025"]
[Site "chongqing, China"]
[Date "2025.04.16"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Ju, Wenjun"]
[Black "Tan, Zhongyi"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2561"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[WhiteFideId "8603006"]
[BlackElo "2555"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[BlackFideId "8603642"]
[TimeControl "90m+30s"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "B30"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/broadcast/-/-/p..."]
[StudyName "Chongqing | Game 9"]
[ChapterName "Ju, Wenjun - Tan, Zhongyi"]
1. e4 [%clk 1:30:56] 1... c5 [%clk 1:30:54] 2. Nf3 [%clk 1:31:21] 2... Nc6 [%clk 1:31:18] 3. Bb5 [%clk 1:31:41] 3... e6 [%clk 1:31:42] 4. O-O [%clk 1:31:46] 4... Nge7 [%clk 1:32:06] 5. Re1 [%clk 1:31:55] 5... Nd4 [%clk 1:32:23] 6. Nxd4 [%clk 1:31:13] 6... cxd4 [%clk 1:32:45] 7. c3 [%clk 1:30:24] 7... a6 [%clk 1:32:35] 8. Bf1 [%clk 1:27:23] 8... Nc6 [%clk 1:32:57] 9. Na3 [%clk 1:24:51] 9... Be7 [%clk 1:31:11] 10. Nc2 [%clk 1:23:28] 10... d5 [%clk 1:31:16] * 
click for larger view |
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Apr-16-25
| | offramp: Game 9 has been agreed a draw, or perhaps a repetition. |
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| Apr-16-25 | | edbermac: Game 9 just drawn. Ju Wenjun is WWCC. Press conference now. |
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Apr-16-25
 | | MissScarlett: Niemann's disappearing act has excited more interest than this match. Fact! |
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Apr-16-25
| | offramp: Zhongyi Tan, the loser, has a lot to think about. Her team was very good. She had no problems getting out of the opening, it was after that she was outplayed over and over again. She is the same age and she has the same rating. She has to blame her opponent for her problems on the board. Wenjun Ju looked <intense>, a bit like Botvinnik: sellotaped to the table, gazing at the position, calculating, calculating...
I am sure that she will unwind as soon that game 9 and the Presser is over. She will soon be thrown into <Fountain of Great Festivities> in <Piazza of Permanent 5-Year Plan> in central Chongqing.
Great success!! |
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| Apr-16-25 | | visayanbraindoctor: Women’s Chess World Championship 2025
The Women’s Chess World Championship 2025 was held on April 3 to 20 in China between two Chinese women, Ju Wenjun the title holder and Tan Zhongyi the challenger. Name: FIDE Women's World Championship
Event Date: April 3 - 20, 2025
Site: Shanghai & Chongquing CHN
Format: 12 Rds Classical (tie-breaks, if necessary). TC: 90m:30m+30spm(1)
(A classical game is one in which the time limit is at least 90 minutes in 30 moves, plus 30 seconds per move (after 30 moves). All quicker time controls are regarded as quick games, including rapid, blitz and Armaggedon.)
The match actually ended on 16 April 2025 rather on 20 April 2025. Ju won the match after posting an insurmountable lead of 6½ to 2½, with 5 wins, 1 loss, and 3 draws. The men’s World Championship (WC) match at present essentially follows the same format.
Format: 14 Rds Classical (tie-breaks, if necessary). TC: 120m:30m+30spm(41) as in the 2024 Ding - Gukesh World Championship match. It must be said that the strongest chess player in the world, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, did not and does not like this format, and so for this and a myriad of other reasons abdicated the WC title. He was succeeded by Ding and now Gukesh. See previous article. This is the second World Championship match Ju and Tan have played. Previously in May 2018 the World Champion title holder was Tan, and the challenger was Ju. Tan grabbed the Women's World Chess Championship of 2017 by winning a 64-player knock-out tournament. Tan Zhongyi beat Anna Muzychuk in the rapid tie-breaks to win the title.
Ju qualified by winning the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16, a series of five chess tournaments, which determined the challenger for the Women’s World Chess Championship match of May 2018, a 10-game match. Ju won that first match against Tan thus grabbing the Women’s Chess World Championship title. She has been the world champion since then. Also since then, Ju has defended the title 4 times, in November 2018, 2020, 2023, and 2025. The November 2018 Women’s World Chess Championship event was a knock-out tournament to crown a new women's world champion in chess. It was a 64-player knockout type on 2 to 23 November in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Ju won it by beating 5 players in two game KO matches and then Russian Kateryna Lagno in the final. Ju had advanced to the final without playing a tie-break, winning all her two-game mini-matches in classical games. Challenger Kateryna Lagno played three tie-breaks, winning two mini-matches in classical games and three in tie-breaks. The final was the only match with four classical games, followed by tie-breaks. It ended in a tie after four classical games 2-2. Then Ju won on tie-breaks, which consisted of four more quick games. Lucky break, since the World Championship has been determined traditionally by a world champion surviving unbeaten in a match with a challenger, in classical games. Ju survived a four game classical match unbeaten (tied 2-2). Had Ju lost either the classical 4-game match or the 4-game tie break, the Women’s World Championship would have been disconnected from tradition, as Lagno would have grabbed the WC title without beating the champion in a classical match. That the World Championship has been determined traditionally by a world champion surviving unbeaten in a match with a challenger, in classical games, had also been the case for the Men’s Chess World Championship throughout the 20th century. |
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| Apr-16-25 | | visayanbraindoctor: That the World Championship has been determined traditionally by a world champion surviving unbeaten in a match with a challenger, in classical games, had also been the case for the Men’s Chess World Championship throughout the 20th century. Note that Ju was forced to play two World Championship events in a single year, in a space of 4 months, May and November 2018. Over-all Ju has played in five World Championship events in eight years. As you can see, in the recent past the Women’s Chess World Championship has been a mess. Traditionally, there was Candidates Tournament, wherein the top players of the world as determined by a series of qualification events, met. The winner of the Candidates Tournament was declared the challenger to the titleholder of Women’s World Champion. They meet in a match for the title of Women’s World Champion. This format is the same as the traditional Men’s World Championship system until the 1980s. Then FIDE changed it into a knock out tournament form. Players played two game matches, knocking off each other, until the end. The winner became the Women’s World Champion. Since a single loss in a two-game match was enough to knock one off, it essentially became a game of luck, akin to Russian roulette. World Champion Ju had to endure this event in November 2018, instead of facing off a challenger chosen in a Candidates tournament in a match. She actually won the November 2018 WC Event, thus retaining her Title of Women’s World Champion. Lucky Ju Wenjun. No one liked this system except for the idiots in FIDE who came up with it. But that’s what you get if you come up with a powerful centralized governing structure without players’ say. The negative feedback was so overwhelming such that even the idiots in FIDE noticed it. The strongest active woman chess player, Chinese Hou Yifan withdrew from FIDE women’s events because of the silly Grand Prix and Knock Out formats. Hou is a three-time Women's World Chess Champion, the second highest rated female player of all time, the youngest female player ever become Grandmaster (at 14 years, 6 months, 16 days), and the youngest ever to win the Women's World Chess Championship at 16. And so, FIDE changed it back to the traditional format of Candidate’s Tournament, the winner of which Challenged the Champion in a match. Unfortunately, a tie was and still is determined by non-classical quick game tie-breaks. Thus later on Ju retained her WC title against Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina in the Women's World Chess Championship 2020 (6–6, in classical games; 2½–1½ in tiebreaks), then against fellow Chinese Lei Tingjie in the Women's World Chess Championship 2023 (6½–5½ in classical games). Ju has had to endure five World Championship Events since May 2018. She grittily took it all in and didn’t quit Women’s Chess, as Hou did. The present Ju vs Tan match format calls for a tie break of quick games should the match end in a tie. I am against this. Below is the reason why. |
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| Apr-16-25 | | visayanbraindoctor: The present Ju vs Tan match format calls for a tie break of quick games should the match end in a tie. I am against this. Below is the reason why. 1. Best Qualifiers?
The credible, fair, tried & tested Zonals - Interzonals - Candidates (with known strong players directly seeded into the Interzonals & Candidates; & here ratings may be used with caveats) over the random World Cup - type 'lottery' like tournaments. If possible long Candidate matches and 20 to 24 game World Championship matches. 2. My thoughts regarding the quick game tiebreakers for the World Championship Match: The Romance of the Chess World Championship Match and the World Champions that won them:
There can only be two.
The Champion to hold the title he beat all the masters for.
The Challenger on quest for same title of yore. i. Ideally the champion must have beaten the old one to be champion. ii. Stop these FIDE quick game tie-breaks to decide the Classical Champion. iii. The tiebreakers should be as fair as possible. Notice that in the traditional champion-retains-title-in-a-tie, all the champion needs is a tied match to retain his title. Advantage champion. My recommendation is we give more Whites to the challenger. Advantage challenger. So things even out.
We still retain the tradition of the Challenger beating the Champ to get the Title. The Challenger gets to do it in a classical game, not a quick game. Thus, suggestions if the World Championship match ends in a tie: Additional classical games with a limit, wherein the challenger receives more Whites. If the Champion manages to tie or win at the end, he retains the Title. Thus the tiebreaker can be one extra White game for the Challenger. Or two, three, or four. Concretely, we have three additional games. Challenger gets to play two whites and one black. He has to win at least one game and draw the other two. If the score is tied after three games, the titleholder retains the World Championship. We could even vary further, say one Black followed by one to three Whites for the Challenger. Studies can be made in order to determine the best specific format (of Blacks and Whites) that can afford the Challenger a fair chance at winning. IMO this would probably be welcomed by most of the chess world in terms of the sporting excitement it affords. Here we have the challenger; forced to try all means to win in classical games against a sitting champion that only needs to draw all the tiebreak games. A real drama at the end of the match. If the match still ends in a tie, the Champion retains his Title, and deservedly so since he got more Blacks. This way the challenger must beat the champion in a classical game (not a quick game) in order to grab the title, and in so doing win the match outright. |
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| Apr-16-25 | | schweigzwang: Reminds me somehow of the Fischer-Petrosian Candidates match. |
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| Apr-16-25 | | notyetagm: <offramp: ... She is the same age and she has the same rating. She has to blame her opponent for her problems on the board.> I thought Tan was the favorite because she had played so well the past 12 months prior. But then after taking the lead by winning Game 2, the wheels just came completely off for her: First 2 games: <+1 =1 -0> Last 7 games: <+0 =2 -5> She just totally collapsed after Game 2. |
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Apr-17-25
 | | Check It Out: Tan lost 5 out of 6 games in a row with the shortest game 47 moves. She got outplayed, not outprepared. |
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Apr-17-25
 | | Atterdag: Concluded by a few precise lines or a cascade of words - we spectators have regarded this match as decided for a while now. I would love to see a match between Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun. I am sure Hou would need a couple of months for preparation, and she would face a very self-confident, well-playing champion. |
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Apr-18-25
 | | HeMateMe: It would be nice if a private donor would put up money for a yifan/Ju non title match. Of course the winner would be the acknowledged world champion no matter what FIDE says. |
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Apr-18-25
| | Check It Out: After a light scan, it seems Yifan Hou has only been participating in lightweight rapid/blitz/team events. I doubt money is much of a motivating factor. |
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Apr-20-25
| | Atterdag: Amidst all this I have forgotten to congratulate Ju Wenjun. She did a very convincing job against an opponent who appeared quite strong at the beginning of the match. She continues to be the undisputed queen of women chess and for what I have seen she is also a great ambassador for our beloved mind-game. |
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| Apr-20-25 | | metatron2: I agree <Atterdag> It feels to me like Ju Wenjun is quite underrated. Not in chess rating, but in that she isn't normally mentioned among the greatest women chess players ever, and in general she is not as popular as she should be.. I think that she belongs in the top 5 greatest women chess players ever. She just focus more on women championships, and doesn't have elite results in men tournaments (but no women had that other than Judit). Also she wasn't a big prodigy like Hou Yifan (but she does have better domination consistency). Chinese women have dominated the women chess for so long now, that it probably reduces public interest in women WCC, and that's probably another reason Ju doesn't get the attention and respect she should have got. |
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Apr-20-25
 | | keypusher: Am I right to think that she has never been the top rated woman in the world, and generally has been ~#300 in the world overall? If so, that might also have something to do with it. Pretty marked differences from Hou Yifan, to say nothing of Judit Polgar. |
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Apr-20-25
| | Check It Out: Yes, congratulations to Ju Wenjun. She represents the highest levels of chess very well. She has stayed on after some questionable FIDE moves regarding the Women's World Championship (notably, having to win a knockout tournament mere months after securing the title!). No one is surprised that FIDE pulls these kinds of stunts. So kudos to her for having the will power, stamina, not to mention chess skill to be the now 5 times women's world champ. And if you'll excuse the mild sexism, she's a looker! |
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| Apr-20-25 | | metatron2: <keypusher: Am I right to think that she has never been the top rated woman in the world> Technically yeah, but she has been #2 in the world behind Hou Yifan many times, and Hou Y hasn't played in tournaments since 2018, and only kept her rating active with few league games here and there, so practically speaking, among the active women chess players, Ju was the highest rated. And BTW she is the top rated woman (above Hou Y) in rapid rating, and #2 rated woman (behind Hou Y) in blitz. <kp: and generally has been ~#300 in the world overall? If so, that might also have something to do with it. Pretty marked differences from Hou Yifan, to say nothing of Judit Polgar> Her peak is much lower then Hou Yifan rating and obviously from J Polgar rating. As I said, she is more focused on women tourneys, and its much more difficult to collect rating there above 2600 rating. Obviously she is not as talented as those two, but Hou Y basically retired at age 24, which is way too early, and also Ju won the Women WCC in KO format as well, that Hou didn't. Still overall, I would rate Hou Y above Ju W, and obviously J Polgar as well, but I would rank her in the top 5, along with Gaprindashvili and Chiburdanidze. |
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| Apr-21-25 | | visayanbraindoctor: Addendum:
The November 2018 Women’s World Chess Championship event was a knock-out tournament to crown a new women's world champion in chess. It was a 64-player knockout type on 2 to 23 November in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Ju won it by beating 5 players in two game KO matches and then Russian Kateryna Lagno in the final. Ju had advanced to the final without playing a tie-break, winning all her two-game mini-matches in classical games. To put it in perspective, say Ju Wenjun had the (high for argument’s sake) probability of winning a KO game match of 80%. Ju won 6 KO matches. That would mean that the probability of wining the tournament would be: 0.8 times 0.8 times 0.8 times 0.8 times 0.8 times 0.8 = 0.3276. Only about 33%. Lucky Ju Wenjun. And my congratulations and eternal gratitude to her for persevering under such conditions |
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Apr-21-25
| | keypusher: <Still overall, I would rate Hou Y above Ju W, and obviously J Polgar as well, but I would rank her in the top 5, along with Gaprindashvili and Chiburdanidze.> <Metatron2> You make good points, and your ranking above seems fair, though I might argue to get Menchik in there versus Ju W. |
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Apr-21-25
| | Check It Out: <visayanbraindoctor: Lucky Ju Wenjun. And my congratulations...to her for persevering under such conditions> In all games there is an element of luck that is in the hands of the gods (in this case Caissa) But, some more than others. The lucky swings in texas hold 'em tournament poker far outweigh those in chess. Ju Wenjun not only has the fortitude to withstand world championship vicissitudes to an extreme, she also has the skill to whittle down the luck factor, and for that she earns my admiration. |
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Apr-21-25
 | | Dionysius1: I wonder how whoever invested in the Chongqing half of the event feels. Six games in Shanghai, only 3 in Chongqing. Refunds? |
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