Today, we are going to cover the Round 4 clash between the current Women’s World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun and India’s reigning World Rapid Champion Koneru Humpy at Norway Chess 2025. Ju Wenjun will have the white pieces in this encounter.
Humpy is currently one of the co-leaders of the event with 6 points, having secured two victories against Sarasadat Khadem of Spain and Vaishali R of India. Ju Wenjun is on 4 points, with two Armageddon wins against Vaishali and Sarasadat, while suffering a tiebreak loss against China’s Lei Tingjie.
Ju Wenjun is currently ranked World No. 2 among women and is the reigning four-time Women’s World Champion. She is also the current World Blitz Champion, a two-time World Rapid Champion, the reigning Norway Chess Women’s Champion, and one of only six women in history to achieve a 2600+ FIDE rating. Official FIDE rating (1 May 2025): 2580
Koneru Humpy is Women’s World No. 5 and India’s No. 1. She is the 2019 and 2024 World Rapid Champion, was named BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year in 2020, and has earned gold medals at the Olympiad, Asian Games, and Asian Championship. Humpy is India’s first female grandmaster and the second woman ever to cross the 2600 rating barrier, after Judit Polgár. Official FIDE rating (1 May 2025): 2543
Stay with us as we break down each move and idea from this exciting battle between two of the greatest players in women’s chess!
World Champion started once again with the king pawn, playing the most common opening in chess — king pawn to two squares.
Humpy also replied the same way — we will see main lines of king pawn openings.
White’s kingside knight is developed to its natural square. Let’s see now if Black takes this into the line of which opening.
Humpy develops her queenside knight! Let’s see if this turns into an Italian, Ruy Lopez, or something else.
It’s the light-squared bishop on the a2–g8 diagonal — it’s an Italian Opening.
Humpy also brings out her dark-squared bishop, preparing to castle — we are in a standard Italian Opening line.
White pushed her d-pawn one square, supporting the center and creating space for the dark-squared bishop.
Humpy’s kingside knight is also out now, fully ready to castle at any moment, taking control of the center.
Ju brings her second knight into the game from the natural square on the queenside, supporting the center and possibly preparing to attack Black’s dark-squared bishop soon.
Black pushes her h-pawn one square — preventing any bishop or knight intrusion on that flank and quietly giving her king some breathing space.
White completes the castle! King is already safe by move 6!
Humpy pushed her d-pawn one square to open her light-squared bishop.
Ju wants to exchange Humpy’s dark-squared bishop with her knight — she played the knight and attacked the dark bishop.
Humpy took her bishop one step back, ready to exchange but on her terms.
Ju played her a-pawn one square forward, creating space for her light-squared bishop and preparing to gain space with a b-pawn push.
Black also completed the castle, continuing with her development.
Ju played her h-pawn one square forward, aiming to stop Black’s dark-squared bishop and knight from arriving there, while also creating space for her king.
Humpy moved her queenside knight toward the center, aiming to switch it to the kingside. The most recent top-level game in this position was Nepomniachtchi vs Duda, where Nepo pushed the b-pawn and the game ended in a draw.
Wenjun decided to exchange the bishop — she captured Black’s dark-squared bishop with her knight.
Humpy takes back with the a-pawn, opening up the a-file for her rook.
Ju, following the game Sindarov played twice recently, brings her rook to the e-file, ready to push the d-pawn if needed in the center.
Humpy spent the most time so far on this important move and brings her last piece into the game — the light-squared bishop, placed directly in front of White’s bishop, offering an exchange, and ready to double another pawn and open the other rook.
Ju accepted the exchange offer and captured the black bishop.
Humpy takes back with the f-pawn — now she has two doubled pawns, but both rooks are placed on semi-open files.
The doubled pawns came with some weakness — sensing it, Ju pushed her c-pawn one square forward to support the d-pawn and prepare for a central strike soon.
Humpy didn’t react to Wenjun’s idea and continued with her own plan to bring her knight to the kingside.
This is a novelty but the engine’s top choice — Ju continued her plan with a central strike, pushing her d-pawn to challenge Black’s e-pawn.
Humpy played the best move for her — exchanging White’s central pawn with her e-pawn.
Ju takes back with the c-pawn — now she has space in the center and an open c-file, but Black also looks solid without any issues.
Humpy also wanted equal space in the center, so she pushed her d-pawn, now claiming equality there.
Wenjun thought for a long time and decided to open the center with an exchange.
Humpy took back the pawn with her pawn!
Wenjun immediately jumped her knight to the available central square, challenging Black’s knight. She now has an open file and good squares for her knight, but an isolated pawn in the center.
After thinking for around 15 minutes, Humpy decided to move her knight out of White’s range and brought it back to the previous square, also covering her light squares.
Ju brings her final piece into the game — she develops her dark-squared bishop to support her knight. Now her rook can join the c-file whenever needed.
Humpy decided to bring her knight into White’s camp and also reminded her opponent that she has an open f-file with a discovered attack on the bishop by her rook.
Ju heated the situation with a queen move — she brought her queen to the g-file, the same file as Black’s king, also eyeing some light-square holes in the position. Let’s see if Humpy can control this with her queen.
Humpy played the best and only move in the position — only her queen can manage White’s attack on the light squares, also offering a queen exchange.
Ju played a tricky move — she brought her knight back to support the bishop, ready for a queen exchange, but with her bishop eyeing Black’s c-pawn, making the situation a bit uncomfortable for Humpy.
Humpy switched her knight to the queenside and now puts the question to Ju about her isolated d-pawn — sometimes, attack is the best defense.
The game is heating up — Ju pushed her f-pawn to attack the black knight and push it back.
Humpy replied with a queen exchange, finally capturing the white queen with her own queen.
Ju took back with the h-pawn — now there are no queens on the board!
Humpy saved the knight, placing it back on the d-file in the path of White’s bishop’s attack on her d-pawn.
Ju decided to capture the knight with her bishop and entered an endgame where the opponent’s pawn structure is weak.
Humpy captured back the bishop with the c-pawn — now it’s a rook and knight endgame where Black’s pawn structure is not ideal, but due to White’s weak d-pawn, the position is still only slightly better for White.
Ju activated her other rook, bringing it to the central d-file, indirectly looking to support her d-pawn.
Humpy kept focusing on attacking White’s only weakness, bringing her rook down to the fourth rank to target the pawn.
Ju brought her knight to the first rank, ready to give up the pawn — but Black needs to be careful, as once the file opens for White, Black’s two pawns are just behind White’s pawns.
Nice move from Humpy — looking to solve her queenside weakness with a pawn push, aiming to exchange it with White’s pawn.
Ju entered Black’s camp with her e-file rook, attacking the black d-pawn. Both players want their pieces active, and so far the position is balanced with many imbalances.
Humpy defended the d-pawn with her rook — the rook is slightly passive after holding the position well.
White’s knight is back in the game, this time providing support for her d-pawn.
Humpy continued and pushed her b-pawn — this now gives her full equality in the game.
Ju returned the rook to the third rank to defend her a-pawn.
Humpy captured White’s a-pawn with her b-pawn — one weakness gone.
Ju captured back with her rook — many exchanges are coming soon.
Black also captured the rook with her rook — the game is moving towards complete equality.
Ju captured back with the only move — with a pawn. Material is equal for now.
Humpy switched her only rook to the a-file, looking to capture White’s a-pawn.
Ju replied with a counterattack, capturing Black’s b-pawn with her rook placed on the b-file.
Humpy decided to take White’s a-pawn and give up her b-pawn.
Ju captured the b-pawn with her rook — now Black’s rook is on the seventh rank.
Humpy switched the rook to the fourth rank, targeting Ju’s other pawn on the d-file. The game could soon see a knight exchange and transition into a rook endgame.
Ju wants to keep the knight on the board — she played her knight to the f-file, eyeing Black’s d-pawn.
Humpy went for more exchanges, capturing White’s d-pawn.
Ju also captured Black’s d-pawn — the game is heading toward a draw.
Humpy gave a check with her knight to the White king — the idea is to bring the knight to the f-file, offering a knight exchange or creating pressure around the g2 pawn.
Ju brings her king toward the center.
Humpy switched her knight to the f-file, offering a knight exchange.
But Ju decided to keep the knight and jumped her knight to the e-file, attacking the Black king.
Humpy brought the king close to White’s knight on the f-file! Now Black’s threat is to attack the White king with the rook and capture the g-pawn.
Ju took her knight back to the f-file, now attacking Black’s kingside pawns with both her rook and knight.
Humpy gave a check to the White king with her rook and now aims to capture the g-pawn.
White moved the king further toward the center, but the g-pawn is now falling — for both White and Black.
Humpy captured the g-pawn with a knight check — for now, she is a pawn up.
White king keeps marching, moving to the central d-file! Looks like Ju wants to create some attack against the Black king with all her pieces — taking one last chance.
Humpy attacked the king from the same file, protecting her pawn and also forcing the White king to retreat.
Ju moved the king to the c-file, but it looks like this will allow Black to attack White’s remaining pawns.
Humpy played her 40th move, placing the rook on the f-file and attacking White’s last two pawns — now both players will have a 10-second increment from every move.
Ju captured Black’s g-pawn with her knight.
Humpy captured White’s f-pawn with her rook — Black is still one pawn up.
Ju switched the knight to the e-file with a check — the game is nearing a draw.
Humpy wants to stay on the g-file — she moved her king back there. White’s only remaining pawn is on the same file.
Both players played a balanced and well-fought battle, consistently targeting each other’s weaknesses while maintaining their own positions. The game followed the Italian Opening, Giuoco Pianissimo variation, and remained sharp and instructive throughout.
This marks the fourth consecutive classical draw for World Champion Ju Wenjun, while for Koneru Humpy, it is her first classical draw of the tournament. If Humpy wins the upcoming Armageddon tiebreak, she could emerge as the sole leader after Round 4.
So now, get ready for the Armageddon tiebreak — who will win?