Today’s spotlight matchup at Norway Chess Women 2025 features a thrilling clash between co-leader GM Anna Muzychuk and the reigning World Champion GM Ju Wenjun.
Anna Muzychuk has had an impressive run so far—victories over Sarasadat and Lei Tingjie in tiebreaks, and a classical win against Humpy Koneru have placed her at the top of the standings with 7 points, despite a narrow tiebreak loss to Vaishali in the last round.
Ju Wenjun, the reigning 4-time Women’s World Champion and current World No. 2, has drawn all her classical games but showcased her dominance in rapid play, winning tiebreaks against Sarasadat, Vaishali, and Humpy. She currently sits in third place with 5.5 points.
This matchup is more than just about points—it’s a battle between two of the most decorated women in chess history. Ju Wenjun is also the reigning World Blitz and two-time Rapid Champion, while Anna Muzychuk is a former World Rapid and double Blitz Champion, and one of only six women ever to cross the 2600 mark.
With both players hungry for the top spot, expect fireworks on the board!
Anna opens the game with the king pawn aiming for central control and flexible development. Let's see how the World Champion responds.
Ju replies with the king pawn — symmetrical so far. Let’s see which opening this game transitions into.
Anna develops her kingside knight early, taking control of the center right from the start.
Ju develops her queenside knight, defending the central pawn and continuing solid development.
Anna places her bishop on b5, targeting the black knight.
Ju brings out her kingside knight as well — smooth development from both sides.
White castles kingside, placing the king to safety and completing development.
It’s the Berlin! Ju captures the central e4 pawn, entering well-known theoretical lines.
Anna places her rook in the center, attacking the black knight and eyeing the e4 pawn to regain material.
Black saves the knight by moving it to the d-file, also attacking the white bishop in the process.
White captures the pawn, creating a threat of a discovered attack on the next move.
Black develops the dark-squared bishop next to the king, parrying the threat and getting ready to castle.
Anna retreats her bishop back home — with castling already done, it adds an extra layer of safety around the king.
Black captures the white knight — the first minor piece exchange on the board.
Rook recaptures the piece — Anna takes the black knight with her only active rook in the game.
Black completes castling — now both sides have castled kingside.
White pushes the d-pawn two squares, opening up the center and freeing the dark-squared bishop.
Black repositions the knight to clear the way for the d-pawn and bring the bishop into play.
Black repositions the bishop on the g1–a7 diagonal, also opening a path for the queen to enter the game.
White retreats the rook back to the first rank, likely preparing for regrouping or avoiding tactics.
Black pushes the d-pawn, creating space for the light-squared bishop to develop.
Anna develops her dark-squared bishop, signaling readiness for an exchange.
Never played before! Ju accepts the exchange, capturing with her dark-squared bishop — the second minor piece trade of the game.
Anna recaptures with the rook, bringing it to the third rank — the rook becomes active again.
Knight returns to the game, activated once again from the kingside — adding pressure to the center.
White advances the h-pawn one square, controlling g4 to restrict Black’s knight and bishop, while also giving the king some breathing room.
Ju brings her rook to the e-file, aiming to exchange off White’s active rook.
White captures the rook, accepting the rook exchange offer!
Ju recaptures with the only move — the queen takes the white rook.
White’s last minor piece, the knight, enters the game — supporting the central d-pawn and freeing the queen for other plans.
Black develops her last minor piece — the bishop steps forward, also creating space for the rook to enter the game.
White steps the queen up one square, creating space for the rook and eyeing a potential entry into Ju’s kingside.
To activate the rook, Ju moves her queen next to the king.
White pushes the a-pawn two squares, making space for the rook and preparing for a potential knight jump.
Ju pushes the h-pawn one square, giving the king some space and preventing White’s queen from entering via the g-file.
Anna advances the a-pawn further, gaining space on the a-file and getting ready for a minority pawn attack.
Ju pushes the a-pawn to stop White from gaining more space. So far, the World Champion is trying to equalize, but White holds a slight edge.
Now Anna brings her queen to the center — likely aiming to restrict Black's rook activity and prepare for entry on the queenside.
Black’s bishop enters the game with a new role — targeting the white c-pawn.
Anna defends the c-pawn with her rook, but it’s a temporary fix — she’ll need a more stable solution soon.
Ju pushes the h-pawn again, aiming to stop White’s g-pawn advance — but Black’s position still feels uncomfortable under White’s attacking potential.
Anna brings her bishop in front of Black’s bishop, aiming for an exchange. This trade would slightly expose Black’s kingside—especially the h-pawn—and also free up White’s rook to rejoin the game.
Ju accepts the exchange, capturing White’s bishop
Anna plays a surprising but accurate move — recaptures with the pawn, opening the c-file and doubling pawns on the d-file, but in return creates a strong central outpost for her knight.
Black’s queen enters the game — an important step to stay active and counter White’s initiative.
Now Anna brings her knight to a powerful post on the e-file, closing it off and threatening to capture the black knight on f6.
Ju avoids complications and captures the knight, transitioning into a queen and rook pawn endgame.
White recaptures with the pawn — the doubled pawns are now resolved, and White holds a slight positional edge.
Black’s queen enters the game from the queenside, attacking White’s advanced a-pawn and ready to give up her own c-pawn, trying to balance the position — though her rook still needs to become active.
Anna took over 25 minutes to respond — White captures the black c-pawn, entering the seventh rank with strong activity.
Ju was prepared and immediately captured White’s a-pawn, attacking the white rook in the process.
Anna captures the b-pawn as well, accepting Black’s challenge — White has nothing to lose here, while Black must be accurate to hold the balance.
Ju enters White’s camp with a check to the king — keeping up the pressure and looking for counterplay.
White moves the king to the only available square. Black is a pawn down — it will be interesting to see how she creates counterplay from here.
Ju finds the best possible move — activates her rook via the e-file, targeting White’s e-pawn.
White supports the central pawn with the f-pawn, but this weakens the dark squares around the king.
Black pushes the pawn and now sets up a threat of perpetual check.
White moves the rook to the c-file again, but playing the queen to the c-file with an exchange offer might have been a better option.
Wenjun activates her rook via the b-file, ready to enter White’s camp if needed.
White looks to secure her king’s safety, knowing that with a pawn-up position, she will always have good chances to improve and press for a win.
Ju gives a check from the g-file — the weakened dark squares around White’s king might help Black force a perpetual check.
The king steps back one square, safely parrying the check.
She brings her rook into White’s camp on the 3rd rank, but Black is a pawn down with a weak pawn structure and needs to be careful.
White’s rook on the e-file controls key entry squares, blocking the black queen and staying ready to support a pawn push if needed.
Mistake from Ju — she allows White to sacrifice the e-pawn and create a passed pawn on the d-file. But White must find the best continuation, starting with removing the black queen from play.
Retreating the queen with the idea to push the e-pawn was the best available move.
Ju once again enters the third rank with her rook
White brings the rook back to the e-file once again — still keeping chances alive
Ju blunders again — let’s see if Anna can spot and capitalize on the best move this time.
Ohh, the game ends in a draw! A bit unfortunate for Anna, who had a promising position out of the Berlin Defense but missed the winning continuation — especially the idea of bringing her queen back to the second rank followed by a central pawn push. Instead, she repeated moves and settled for a draw.
For Ju Wenjun, this was a solid effort — despite being slightly worse for most of the game, she managed to find precise resources and steer the game toward equality. Now, both players will battle it out once again in the tiebreak!