Women's World Chess Championship 2025
Will the fighting spirit continue?
Four rounds left in the 2025 Women's World Championships, and it's looking like a done deal in terms of who will emerge victorious.
That's because, after just 8 rounds of play, the defending champion Ju Wenjun has built up a monumental 4-point lead over the challenger to the throne, Tan Zhongyi.
It would not be fair to say that staging a comeback here is equivalent to overcoming a 4-goal deficit in a football game. While that may be very unlikely, it certainly does happen once in a blue moon.
No, in fact, Tan Zhongyi's task is much more daunting than that. She must win 4 games, and she must do so back-to-back, in order to catch up on points and take Ju Wenjun to the tiebreak day. And this type of a comeback is far more than unlikely. If Tan Zhongyi were to pull it off, it would be nothing short of miraculous.
Given that she would need to achieve something that is absolutely unprecedented in World Championship history, it begs the question: does Tan Zhongyi's fighting spirit remain intact? Or will she aim to bring today's result to a quick draw, and end a process that may have been feeling more and more like torture as the days went by?
We'll have our answers soon, as the game is set to kick off a few minutes from now. Let's see what happens!
Wenjun kicks things off with the king's pawn
No changes from the usual repertoire choice that we've seen so far in this match.
Zhongyi also replies with her preferred choice this match, going for the dynamic and highly studied waters of the Sicilian Defense.
Wenjun steps her knight out
By bringing the kingside piece forward, Wenjun prepares to push her central pawn and then to recapture it with her knight, occupying the center.
Zhongyi steps her own knight out
She moves the queenside piece, in order to gain a footing over the central dark squares herself.
The Rossolimo
This system served Wenjun well the last time around, so she avoids the more common Open Sicilian positions for now (which would have happened if she had immediately pushed her central pawn forward).
Zhongyi steps her central pawn out
With this move, she prepares to bring her kingside knight forward in front of her king. In this way, it will assist her queenside piece that's being pressured by Wenjun's bishop.
Wenjun is the first to castle
Like in the previous game that played out this way, Wenjun avoids capturing the knight. Instead, she's happy to keep that piece tension and focus on bringing her king to safety as soon as possible.
Zhongyi steps her knight out
The upshot of this move is that now her other knight is well defended. That said, Zhongyi will have to find a way to move this piece a second time, since otherwise she won't be able to complete her piece development.
Wenjun occupies the central file
She brings her rook slightly more into the game, at the same time clearing the square to the left of the king. That could prove useful, as in such opening variations it sometimes happens that the White side drops their bishop back to that square.
Zhongyi jumps into the center
She anticipates that Wenjun may have increased her control over that square in the near future, so she seizes the moment to jump in and target the opponent's knight and bishop.
The first set of minor pieces are exchanged. Wenjun has no problem with such an approach, since in general the more pieces that get traded the easier it is to control the outcome of the game. And all she needs to end the match is a draw.
Zhongyi takes back
She's now left with doubled pawns in the center, but that's not really a concern. It's a thorny pawn that Wenjun will almost certainly seek to trade off for one of her queenside pawns in the near future.
Wenjun seeks to trade off immediately
Indeed, there we have it! Wenjun looks to eliminate the pawn. It's understandable, since otherwise it would be challenging for Wenjun to complete her piece development as the pawn cramps her mobility.
Zhongyi evicts the bishop
She looks to kick back Wenjun's invading piece, perhaps before seeking to bring the knight forward. It is quite likely that Zhongyi does not want to see yet more piece trades so early into the game, since again that would not bode well for her chances of winning the game.
Wenjun drops back
She slots the bishop on to the safest square available, and will decide later on in the middlegame what exactly she should do with the piece in order to activate it. But for now, it's valuable that here it cannot be harassed nor will it interfere with Wenjun's likely plans of expansion in the center.
Zhongyi defends the pawn
Initiating the pawn trade herself would simply have played into Wenjun's hands, as it would have allowed her to speed up her development tremendously.
Wenjun brings her knight out to the side
She's looking to complete her piece development, and there are no other squares available for this piece. She may also be looking to drop it back next in order to pressure Zhongyi's advanced pawn.
Zhongyi continues her development
She steps the bishop out, readying herself to castle on the next move.
Wenjun drops her knight back
She's now added a piece to the pressure against Zhongyi's central pawn, which will force some kind of a reaction from her.
Zhongyi breaks in the center
Rather than deal with the pressure against her pawn directly, she goes for a pawn break (contact with the enemy pawn) and in so doing she ensures that Wenjun doesn't have time to cleanly win her central pawn.
That said, while this may still be theory, it's not a line that is likely to trouble Ju Wenjun. That's because now a series of pawns, and maybe the knights too, are likely to come off the board. And once that happens, it's going to be very hard to fight for real winning chances.
Wenjun goes for the most simple choice
She's looking to guide the game into a middlegame that is as simplified and dry and boringly equal as possible. That's of course the strategy one can expect when a draw is enough to clinch the title!
Zhongyi trades knights. She has no choice, since she needs to damage the opponent's structure to avoid losing a pawn with nothing to show for it.
Wenjun recaptures.
Zhongyi now takes the pawn, since in this way Wenjun is left with doubled and isolated pawns in the center of the board.
Wenjun is not in the mood to get distracted by options like rook takes pawn, which would keep her extra pawn for now but at the expense of losing piece coordination and being left with an ugly structure. Instead, she offers to give back her extra pawn in exchange for speeding up her development and simplifying the position further.
Zhongyi shows that she still wants to fight
If she had wanted to make a fast draw, she would almost certainly have taken the central pawn with her queen. That way, the queens would have been traded off shortly after and the game would end up in a completely equal rook and bishop endgame.
Wenjun recovers her pawn
She takes back with the bishop, leaving her central pawn "undefended". But it would be a huge blunder to capture it, due to the discovered check tactic that would net Wenjun her opponent's queen!
Zhongyi castles
Since the pawn cannot be captured, she instead focuses on continuing her development. Her only feint glimmer of hope when it comes to generating winning chances in this game, is the fact that Ju Wenjun has an isolated pawn in the center. But given that Wenjun also has more space and smoother piece development, the isolated pawn is really not a significant concern for now.
Great move!
Wenjun steps her bishop forward, in order to pressure the queenside pawn of Zhongyi. That is going to make it that much harder for Zhongyi to be able to complete her piece development.
Zhongyi steps her bishop forward
With it, she adds an attacker against Wenjun's central pawn.
Wenjun defends her pawn
She continues her piece development in the most logical way and, importantly, she covers against the threat on her central pawn.
Zhongyi steps her pawn out
This shuts down the vision of Wenjun's light-squared bishop against her king, while also allowing Zhongyi the option of slotting her bishop back one square to set up a typical fianchetto.
Wenjun steps her queen out
With this move, she establishes serious pressure against the queenside pawn. But her real threat is likely to bring her left-hand rook into the central files, and seek to push her isolated pawn forward at the right moment. So far, Ju Wenjun is very much in control of the game.
Zhongyi grabs the pawn
This may very well be a sign that Zhongyi has seen enough. The point is that she goes up a pawn for now, but Wenjun should be able to force it back with the benefit of simplifying things much further.
Wenjun pins the bishop
That's going to force Zhongyi to defend it with her pawn.
Zhongyi guards against the threat
Forced, as the bishop was pinned against her queen.
Wenjun trades
She's happy to reduce the material further, and will go hunting for the pawn on the next move.
Zhongyi takes back
For now she's up a pawn, but the problem is that it won't be possible for her to hang on to it.
Wenjun goes hunting for the pawn
The defending champion has gotten exactly what she wanted: a very dry and equal middlegame position, with reduced material.
Zhongyi hits the queen
She forces Wenjun to react, though that is not going to worry her as she anyway is quite happy to capture the central pawn with her queen.
Wenjun restores material equality, at the same time offering the exchange of queens.
Zhongyi does not resist this idea, which to me indicates that she's resigned herself to a draw and to the end of this match.
Wenjun recovers her queen.
Zhongyi steps out her bishop
With it, she completes her minor piece development. It's true that Wenjun can capture her now undefended pawn on the queenside, but that's not a major concern as Zhongyi has pressure on Wenjun's own queenside pawns.
Wenjun offers another piece trade
She's looking to force a pure rook and pawn endgame. And, frankly, there's not too much that Zhongyi can do to stop this from happening.
Zhongyi exploits the vulnerable position of Wenjun's bishop, pinning it against the undefended rook.
Wenjun doubles up rooks, in order to defend her pinned bishop.
Zhongyi brings her other rook into the game. Her threat is to exchange pieces in the center and then step forward with her remaining rook onto the last rank, which would give checkmate!
Wenjun approaches with her king, in order to prevent any ideas around backrank checkmate.
Zhongyi sets up one last tactic
If it were her move right now, she would be winning! That's because she has the threat to double up on the central file, pinning Wenjun's bishop. But Wenjun can easily avoid this trap, for example by exchanging bishops.
Wenjun happily agrees to simplify the position further.
Zhongyi recaptures with the rook, so as to not cause any damage to her pawn chain.
Wenjun gives a check, forcing one of the remaining sets of rooks off the board.
Zhongyi captures.
Wenjun takes back with check, gaining a little more time.
Zhongyi lifts her king up to escape the check.
Wenjun drops back to the seventh rank, in order to attack Zhongyi's queenside pawn.
Zhongyi pushes her pawn forward one square, to avoid the strike from Wenjun's rook.
Wenjun advances her kingside pawn. The game has become extremely simplified now. Short of a catastrophic blunder, we should see a draw at some point in the next dozen or so moves.
Zhongyi brings her king a little closer to the center.
Wenjun slides her rook behind the pawn, to anchor Zhongyi's own rook to its defense.
Zhongyi offers further pawn exchanges.
Wenjun happily agrees to further trades.
Zhongyi recaptures.
Wenjun slightly improves her king placement.
Zhongyi does similarly.
Wenjun approaches with her king one more square.
Zhongyi slightly improves her pawn placement, since the base pawns now sit on the third rank from where they're protected by her rook.
Wenjun pushes her own pawn up. At this stage, I suspect the players are mostly just focused on reaching move 40, after which it becomes possible for them to make a draw by agreement.
Zhongyi brings her king up slightly.
Wenjun threatens to capture the pawn.
Zhongyi drops her king back, to protect the attacked pawn.
Wenjun returns with the rook to its original square. We could see a repetition soon!
Zhongyi returns with her king, inviting a further repetition of moves! Looks like we're nearing the end...
Wenjun returns with her rook to target the pawn once more.
Zhongyi drops her king back yet again, and with it the game ends in a draw! Congratulations to Ju Wenjun, who emerges victorious after just 9 games of play!
Ju Wenjun is the 2025 Women's World Champion!
It was a clash of titans, a 12-game match between two of the world's best.
Prior to the start of the match, many of the world's top female players were asked who they considered to be the favorite going into it. And, unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority placed their vote in the hands of the defending champion, Ju Wenjun.
But as early as game 2, those predictions seemed to be standing on shaky ground. That's because Tan Zhongyi managed to trick Ju Wenjun in a deceptively treacherous rook endgame, leading to a victory and giving her the early lead in the match.
Unfortunately for Tan Zhongyi and her many fans, that was to be the end of the celebrations for her. After the rest day, Ju Wenjun came back with a vengeance, winning game 3 and immediately leveling the match.
From that point on, the entire tempo of the match was dictated by one player and one player only, and that was Ju Wenjun. She offered her opponent a slight respite, with a draw in game 4. But that was the end of the peace offerings. Games 5 and 6 ended in convincing victories for Ju Wenjun. And so did games 7 and 8! That marked four back-to-back victories, setting the players up for what was likely to be the last game of the match today.
And Ju Wenjun did the business. She didn't need to play for a win, and so she was pragmatic from start to end. She systematically traded off pieces and guided the game to a dry endgame where Zhongyi was left without so much as a sliver of hope of playing for the full point.
And after not even 40 moves, the players finally agreed to split the point.
With that, Ju Wenjun keeps her title of Women's World Champion, a title she has held since 2018! Congratulations!
From our part at TTT, we hope you enjoyed following the action, and we look forward to seeing you all again in the near future for more tournament and match commentary!