Today we will cover the crucial Round 9 encounter between Anna Muzychuk and World Champion Ju Wenjun. With just two rounds remaining, both players are tied at 12.5 points, sharing second place. This clash is vital in the race for the top spots and could significantly impact the final standings. Ju Wenjun will have the white pieces in this high-stakes battle. In their last encounter, Ju emerged victorious in the tiebreak against Anna.
World Champion started with her kingside knight on move one. After successfully regaining her World Championship title, this is Ju's first major classical event, which is about to end. She surely wants to leave an impact here!
Anna also brings her kingside knight out, ready to take the game into many possible opening variations.
c-pawn to two squares — White starts gaining control of the center! We have entered the English Opening!
Anna replied with the same — c-pawn to two squares. Both moves are replicas of White’s move.
White brings the other knight into the game! Ju is preferring fast and solid development.
Once again, Anna brings out the same piece — queenside knight also enters the game. Both are taking equal control and space in the game.
Ju went for the standard move — g-pawn to one square, preparing to fianchetto the light-squared bishop and getting ready to castle kingside soon.
Anna strikes in the center — the first different move on the board with d-pawn to two squares.
White accepts the center challenge — captures Black’s central d-pawn with the c-pawn, the first exchange on the board.
Anna captures the pawn with her knight! Her knight is now in the center and ready for an exchange with White’s queenside knight at any moment.
White bishop moves to the long light diagonal as planned — developing fast and ready for castling.
Anna goes for the first minor piece exchange — her central knight captures White’s queenside knight!
Ju recaptures the piece with the b-pawn, opening the b-file and bringing another pawn toward the center — she may soon strike with the d-pawn.
Another central pawn move from Black — her e-pawn to two squares, gaining space as well. While White’s central pawns remain on their starting squares, Black is slightly behind in development but balancing the position with space and central control. She also wants to prevent White from taking control of the center for now.
Ju has completed castling — only the dark-squared bishop needs to join the game. Meanwhile, Black needs three more moves to complete development. What Ju needs now is to regain control in the center, or at least equalize.
Anna knows she needs to develop fast — brings her dark-squared bishop next to the king, preparing for castling.
First central pawn move from White — d-pawn to one square, taking control of the fourth rank, influencing the c- and e-files, and opening a new diagonal for the dark-squared bishop.
Anna goes for castling — Black has almost completed development.
Ju brings her rook to the open file, putting pressure on the b-file and the b-pawn — tying down Black’s light-squared bishop to stay home and protect the pawn.
Anna brings her queen one step diagonally onto the c-file, supporting her b-pawn, allowing the light-squared bishop to move, also supporting the central e-pawn, and creating space for the rook to join the position.
White follows the path of many top players, including Carlsen — brings her knight from the kingside to the d-file on the second rank, stepping back for a future jump and opening the light-squared bishop's diagonal to its full potential. She re-establishes central presence while controlling two important squares to prevent any pawn breaks from the Black side.
Anna brings the light-squared bishop out, improving central control, eyeing White’s a-pawn, and connecting both rooks. Development is complete for Black.
Ju chooses a slightly rare path — jumps the knight to the c-file, eyeing both the center and the queenside! She’s even ready to accept doubled pawns if Black decides to exchange her light-squared bishop for this knight. Only 10 games with this line are found in the database!
Anna follows the standard path — brings her a-rook to the central d-file, looking to put pressure on White’s center and currently threatening to capture the knight for free, as the d-pawn is pinned against the queen. She also releases the rook from the x-ray of White’s light-squared bishop.
Ju unpins the pawn by moving the queen to the queenside, also supporting the knight to avoid any doubled pawn threat.
Never played before. Anna moves the bishop one step back to create a discovered attack threat against the White queen. In the three games found in the database, Black always went for the exchange of light-squared bishops with the move Bishop to d5.
White needed time to assess how dangerous Black’s threat was, so Ju spent more than 16 minutes and responded by retreating her knight to the center — this time to the third rank, controlling some important light squares in Black’s camp.
Anna brings the bishop back to the same square to regain control of the central light squares, but in doing so, Black has wasted two moves — a favorable outcome for White!
Ju solidifies control of the central light squares with a c-pawn push! You could say White is already slightly better, and Black now needs to be careful with her plans — one more mistake could give White a strong position. The only thing left now is that the central d4 square is still available for a Black knight jump.
Black moves the queen, getting ready to jump the knight — eyeing an attack on White’s e-pawn with tempo, along with a potential exchange and pressure on the White queen.
Wenjun continues with her plan, jumping the knight forward! Perhaps the engine suggestion was to defend the e-pawn first with the rook, but this is a natural and practical move by White.
Black pushes the dark-squared bishop one step ahead to avoid any threat from White’s knight — but the question is, where is this bishop going when all the paths around it are blocked? Her road seems closed.
Ju follows the standard path to develop her last piece and connect the rooks. However, the engine's choice was to neutralize Black's knight jump by playing the rook to the e-file.
Anna’s knight jumps ahead — the only good move she found in the last few moves! It attacks the White queen and forces her to retreat home to defend the e-pawn.
Looks like White placed too much trust in her central knight position and didn’t give enough weight to Black’s knight jump — has she slipped her slight advantage?
Ju plays the only move possible — retreats the queen. Must be a relief for Black, for now!
Anna takes the chance to improve her pieces — brings the knight and bishop together, attacking White’s e-pawn! Clearly, Ju has slipped her advantage.
White moves the rook to defend the pawn — the only best move in this position. White is still fine, but Black has clearly improved her position over the last few moves.
Anna solidifies her queenside with a b-pawn move, connecting her pawn chain.
Ju immediately moves the dark-squared bishop to the long diagonal — almost closed, but giving her the option to exchange Black’s strong knight if needed.
Anna is showing a bit of ambition now — pushes her f-pawn two squares forward, getting ready to put pressure on Ju’s kingside. You could say Black has already achieved full equality.
Ju responds quickly with her f-pawn push — yes, it weakens some dark squares and her king's position, but it forces Black’s bishop to vacate the area.
Black saves the bishop and moves it to the only possible square — the h-file. Currently, both of White’s bishops are inactive — the only well-placed piece is the knight in the center, now standing alone with support from the c-pawn.
Ju makes another decision to force Black’s knight to leave the center, but her last two moves have weakened White’s kingside. She needs to be careful in the future — the position is still semi-closed, and no direct attack is coming to the king immediately.
Anna takes the knight back to its original square, but now it will be interesting to see how Ju proceeds from here after playing two bold pawn moves in her last turns — she has brought a lot of imbalances into the game.
Ju plays the best move right now — pushes her e-pawn one square forward, solidifying her knight but once again surrendering the d4 square to Black. She challenges Black’s f-pawn, and if Black exchanges, White will restore equality on the board.
Anna decides to fully test Wenjun’s plan — pushes her f-pawn. This is risky for Black too; if White captures the g-pawn, Black’s response could take the game in an entirely new direction.
Ju captures the pawn — now the question for Anna is: how will she recover the material?
Anna comes up with an interesting idea — sacrifices the exchange against White’s central knight, aiming to keep White’s kingside light-squared bishop closed!
Ju accepts the offer immediately — captures the Black rook with her knight.
Anna takes back — she sacrifices the rook for the knight in order to shut down White’s bishop. But now White also has some play with her dark-squared bishop, centrally placed rook, and passed pawn.
Ju pushes her central pawn — today she’s been very active with pawn play against Anna! Will it help her or cost her dearly?
Anna saves the bishop — she needs to be careful with her assets now!
Blunder from Ju — this pawn sacrifice will give Black a dangerous passed pawn.She may be trying to improve her bishop, but her piece coordination is not in proper shape. Will the World Champion suffer her first classical loss after regaining the title for the fourth time?
Anna takes charge! A correct decision to accept the pawn and capture with her own pawn instead of the knight. Black is much better now.
Ju saves the bishop and moves it to the d-file, attacking Black’s f-pawn — but here, a pawn push from Black could badly destroy her chances.
Anna takes another path to defend the f-pawn — brings her queen forward, also putting pressure on White’s king.
Wenjun moves her queen to the e-file to connect the rooks, provide some defense around the king, and support the central pawn push — but is it too late?
Black improves the dark-squared bishop — now ready to capture the queen with a discovered attack after a pawn push!
The king moves to the corner, but all of Black’s pieces are putting White under deep pressure! Excellent coordination from Black, while White is lacking the same harmony.
Anna switches her light-squared bishop, joining the queen on the b1–h7 diagonal. Black has several ways to go for the win, while White has only one — the e-pawn — to find some counterplay. The main difference between White and Black is the coordination of pieces.
Ju pushes her last hope — the e-passed pawn! Will this be enough to save her game?
Finally, Anna pushes her d-pawn, attacking White’s queen and forcing her to leave the commanding square.
Ju had the option to exchange queens, but she knows that would lead to a hopeless endgame. So she decides to keep the queen — moves it to the first rank on the f-file, also eyeing a potential bishop move to attack the Black queen in the coming moves.
Anna jumps her knight back to the center — this knight is as valuable as a rook, and Black’s d-pawn is worth more than just a single pawn.
White moves the rook toward the center to improve control against Black’s passed pawn on the d-file — this rook could have been used effectively on the b-file, but White misplayed the position, and it has been the most inactive piece so far.
The Guest Entered Without Permission: Anna’s Knight Invades White’s Territory! Anna jumps the knight forward, creating a threat against the White king and also preparing to capture White’s only passed pawn.
White plays the only move to save the pawn and the position for now — moves the light-squared bishop to gain some breathing space, attack the Black queen, and defend the pawn.
Anna moves her queen to the h-file, maintaining pressure on the king and now targeting White’s f-pawn as well.
Ju is trying hard to create something — she offers the bishop to capture the knight, as the d-pawn is now pinned. But Black has one deceptive knight move in her pocket.
Brilliant find from Anna — she moves her bishop for a sacrifice on the central e4 square to eliminate all of White’s chances. Anna is now close to taking the lead in the event, just before the final round.
White captures Black’s light-squared bishop but is about to lose her dark-squared bishop in return.
Black captures White’s dark-squared bishop, simultaneously attacking the White rook on e1! It’s a messy situation for White — her rooks don’t even have proper squares in their own camp.
White gives up her only passer to save the rook — now Black is far ahead in the position with a brilliantly placed knight and two strong passed pawns.
Black accepts the offer — leaves the White rook for now and captures the passed pawn instead. Black is now two pawns up, down an exchange, but her central pawn and knight are far stronger and more dominant.
White gives a check to the Black king — the first and likely the last check in this game!
Anna safely tucks away her king — no counterplay left in White’s hands now. The position is truly bad for White.
Ju brings the queen forward to offer an exchange, but this only favors Black — leading to a very comfortable endgame!
Yes, Anna likes the idea and accepts the exchange, entering the endgame phase with a clear advantage.
Ju recaptures the queen with her bishop — she is up an exchange but down two pawns. More importantly, Black’s pieces, especially the knight and passed pawns, are far more valuable than usual in this position.
Black’s bishop once again targets the same rook — this time from the other side of the board. With two passed pawns, a strong knight, and an active rook, Black is making White’s life extremely difficult.
The rook moves to the f-file, eyeing Black’s f-pawn — but it’s currently well-defended by the knight.
Anna moves the knight to attack the rook and clear the way for a pawn push.
White moves the rook to the a-file to defend the file and protect against threats from the knight.
Pawn pushed — ready to become a queen! Black’s d-pawn is now just one square away from queening.
White moves the bishop to stop the queening, improving control over the promotion square.
Anna supports her f-pawn, and now all of White’s pieces are left without a clear plan.
White pushes his newly passed pawn — or you could say there are no good moves available, as all his pieces are stuck on different parts of the board with no clear plan.
Black realizes the need for the king and begins the journey toward the center.
Ju Brings the king toward the center, trying to activate it for defense.
The king marches toward the action — Anna is dominating the board now.
White pushes her h-pawn to support the bishop and maintain some control over the g-file, trying to slow down Black’s pawn flow.
But it’s difficult to stop Black now — Anna pushes the h-pawn two squares, attacking the White bishop and preparing to continue the king’s march forward.
White retreats the bishop to the first rank, keeping an eye on the d1–h5 diagonal, hoping to join another diagonal and stay active in defense.
Black king moves forward to attack White’s passed pawn and support the g-pawn push. However, she is offering her h-pawn in exchange for White’s e-pawn.
Ju, with no time left, accepts the offer — captures Black’s h-pawn.
Black’s king continues its walk and captures the White e-pawn — at this point, it’s hard to even spot White’s pawns on the board, while Black’s pawns are everywhere.
Ju pushes her a-pawn two squares forward, trying to disrupt Black’s harmonious pawn structure.
Anna immediately pushes her a-pawn, leaving no chances for White to create any counterplay.
Ju brings back the bishop to the long light diagonal, trying to create some defensive chances.
But Black is in no mood to allow any counterplay — the rook enters White’s camp, tightening the grip even further.
Ju brings her rook to the third rank, aiming to pin the knight — she may consider giving back the exchange if the chance arises.
Black enters deeper into White’s camp, providing support for the knight and rook, and is also ready to capture another White pawn.
Ju moves the rook to the b-file, attacking Black’s b-pawn.
Anna places her bishop on the first rank to block White’s rook and prepare for the arrival of her queen at any moment.
White moves the rook to avoid tactics, trying to delay Black’s queening for a moment.
Black takes one more pawn and offers a rook exchange. She is now three pawns up.
White’s rook retreats to the first rank, declining the exchange.
Black moves the king to the c-file, creating breathing space for the rook.
White’s rook enters the fifth rank, attacking the king and capturing Black’s g-pawn.
Black king is on the ride of his life, moving all around the board — and now Anna is 4 pawns up.
Ju captures Black’s g-pawn with her rook.
Anna decides to exchange rooks now, delivering a check.
The only forced move — Black captures the rook with his rook.
Anna recaptures with the bishop.
White pushes the h-pawn again — her only pawn and passed pawn.
Anna’s knight moves to the c-file again, making space for the queenside pawns to push forward.
White moves the king to the h-file to protect the passed pawn.
Black’s king moves forward to support her queening square on the next move.
White moves the bishop, preparing to push the passed pawn.
Nice move from Anna — she captures White’s last pawn and sacrifices the bishop, knowing White will recapture soon but already has two connected passed pawns.
White captures Black’s bishop with the king.
White moves next to Black’s f-pawn.
White moves next to Black’s f-pawn.
Black begins the process of another queening — this time from the b-file.
White captures Black’s f-pawn, but her king is too far from the action.
Anna pushes the b-pawn — the rook steps down, but she can recover material at any moment.
Last attempt: White moves the bishop far across the board to control another diagonal and attack the Black king.
White decides to promote to a queen — now it’s time to recapture material.
Capturing with the bishop is White’s only move.
Anna captures the White bishop — it’s time for Ju Wenjun to accept defeat!
Ju moves the rook, trying to find a square to attack the Black king — but none of these moves are going to help now.
One more step ahead — Black pushes the b-pawn, now just two squares away from queening.
White gives the last check — but it’s all over for her. Black’s pawns are eager to become queens, and there’s no stopping them now.
A brilliant and commanding win for Anna Muzychuk against the reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun! In a complex battle full of dynamic pawn play, sharp tactics, and deep strategic decisions, Anna’s exchange sacrifices, dominant knight, and flawless coordination led her to a deserved victory. With this win in Round 9, Anna not only hands Ju her first classical loss since reclaiming the world title but also takes the lead going into the final round — a performance to remember!