It's now or never
Welcome to day 8 of a maximum of 12 classical games for the 2025 Women's World Championship.
That's a detail that Ju Wenjun will be very happy to hear, as it means that there remain only 5 games in total in the match. Good news for Wenjun, but worrying news for Tan Zhongyi, as she finds herself 3 points down with very little time to recover them.
If she is to have any chance whatsoever, she'll have to strike today, especially as it is one of three remaining games where she will be commanding the White pieces.
By now, most spectators have ruled out any chance of victory for the challenger, but I imagine that Tan Zhongyi will still maintain the hope of an unlikely comeback. If that journey is to unfold for Zhongyi, it will have to begin with today's game!
Zhongyi opens with the king's pawn
A change of strategy versus previous games, where she opted instead for the less direct English Opening.
Wenjun goes for symmetry
No surprises here. With a 3-point cushion, solidity and risk avoidance should be the name of the game. And for this, pushing the king's pawn up two squares is considered to offer the lowest risk.
Zhongyi develops her queen's knight
A slightly unusual choice. Normally, players opt to bring out their king's knight first. The drawback to that move however is that it runs into extremely drawish openings like the Petroff, so likely this is what Zhongyi is trying to avoid.
Wenjun steps her king's knight out
She continues with normal development for now, prioritizing getting her kingside pieces out in order to be able to castle soon.
Zhongyi plants her bishop on the active diagonal
From here, it points all the way towards the kingside, to the pawn next to Wenjun's king. It's the best diagonal in such structures.
Wenjun steps her other knight out
With it, she defends the central pawn and also adds to her control of the central dark squares.
Zhongyi activates her dark-squared bishop
The diagonal for her for now undeveloped bishop opens up, while at the same time she also lends stability to her pawn and light-squared bishop.
Wenjun goes for the pin!
One very slight drawback to Zhongyi's last move is that now the knight can be pinned against the king. So Wenjun immediately makes use of this detail, while expediting her development.
Zhongyi develops her remaining knight
From here, it pressures the center and at the same time it paves the way to bring her king to safety by castling on the next move.
Wenjun defends her pawn
She too improves her central control, while activating the diagonal for her light-squared bishop.
Zhongyi castles
I have to say, I don't think that Wenjun is going to be too worried here with the choice of opening system that Zhongyi has gone for. She's got a solid setup and she can even force some piece exchanges.
The first minor piece exchange of the game. To be honest, I would have thought that placing the knight out to the edge to hunt the light-squared bishop was the cleaner way to try to bring the game to equality. But Wenjun's approach also seems quite solid.
Zhongyi recaptures.
Wenjun castles
For her part, she's got a very healthy pawn chain and well-placed pieces. That said, Zhongyi can still dream of some chances to play for the win here, especially since at least she's got the bishop pair for now.
Zhongyi goes for the pin
She moves her bishop in, in order to create problems for Wenjun's knight that is pinned against her knight.
Wenjun targets the bishop
She forces her to step back with the bishop, abandoning one of the two diagonals.
Zhongyi drops back
She stays on the diagonal to keep the pin against the knight.
Wenjun goes after the bishop
She's unsurprisingly looking to find ways in which to reduce the material and guide the game to a simple equality. And, since the bishop is limited for squares, Wenjun decides to target it with her knight.
Zhongyi drops her bishop back
At least, if she is to lose her bishop, then she wants to have the opportunity to recapture with her rook's pawn. That would activate her corner piece, while improving her overall pawn formation.
Wenjun chops off the bishop immediately, removing the bishop pair advantage for Zhongyi although at the same time allowing her to improve her pawn chain.
Zhongyi recaptures with the rook's pawn
Taking towards the center is generally a good idea, and in this particular case it's even more potent since it opens up the vision of her left-hand rook.
Wenjun moves her queen out
It's a typical improving move, looking to slightly activate the piece and preparing to connect her rooks once she can move her bishop into the game over the next move or two.
Zhongyi brings her rook to the central file
One likely idea is that she's considering to push her queen's pawn in the future, and she wants to make sure that her king's pawn is sufficiently well guarded in that event.
Wenjun moves her queen up
By doing this, she breaks the annoying pin against her knight.
Zhongyi breaks in the center
She needs to start mobilizing that central pawn mass if she is to try and push for an edge in this game. Now she's got a bit more space, even if that may be a very slight detail for the time being.
Wenjun drops her knight back
The move might look a little strange, but it's quite typical in such positions. It overprotects the center, and it also hints at finding some new routes for the knight in the future. After this move also, Zhongyi's dark-squared bishop is no longer hitting any of Wenjun's forces, rendering it a bit less effective.
Zhongyi lifts her queen up
Slow maneuvering by both sides for now, as Zhongyi connects her rooks (meaning that they now can 'look' at each other). This game is looking like a slow burner for now, with Zhongyi likely intent on spending a long time trying to break down her opponent's defenses.
Wenjun steps her pawn out
A calm improving move. She's likely happy to arrange her pawns in such a way that they are defended by the others, so that she can move her rook away in the future.
Zhongyi brings her final piece towards the center
The action is mostly revolving around the central pawns and files, so Zhongyi brings her last piece into the fray.
Wenjun brings her own rook to the center
Again just a solid move for now, as neither player is looking to go for anything too risky or overcommittal.
Zhongyi drops her bishop back
Without any targets along the diagonal, it makes sense to redeploy the bishop to a new diagonal from where it pressures Wenjun's central pawns.
Wenjun expands on the queenside
Perhaps the riskiest of the moves that Wenjun has opted for until now. The logic is that she wants to bring her for now undeveloped bishop into the game. But it does have the drawback of weakening her pawn chain slightly, something that Zhongyi may try to exploit in the future.
Zhongyi maneuvers with her knight
Again, not such an unusual idea in these kind of structures. Now she can push a pawn to the square previously occupied by her knight, while she can also keep on maneuvering with this piece to try to bring it to an excellent central square in the future.
Wenjun returns with her knight
She might be looking to bring her knight towards the edge and try to trade off Zhongyi's dark-squared bishop, if given the chance. That would help her cause as it would reduce material that bit further.
Zhongyi expands on the queenside
For now she grabs a little more space and also clamps down on the dark squares, a strategy that could prove helpful in the long term. But her move does allow Wenjun to hunt down her bishop, let's see if she does so.
Wenjun chases after the bishop
She's not necessarily indicating that she'll capture it next. It's more so that she benefits from that possibility, coupled with other potentially just as tempting options like bringing her knight forward to attack Zhongyi's queen.
Zhongyi develops the knight
She shifts it on to a light square, from where it covers the dark squares that her pawn chain already controls. So in this sense it complements her previous play. That said, I'm not sure how convincing such a strategy is. After all, Wenjun remains solid while she herself is stirring up some play on the opposite flank (the kingside).
Wenjun slides her queen to the right
She's building up the pressure on the queenside. It's a very sensible move, as she now clears the full diagonal of her light-squared bishop. And this sets up a possible pawn break in the next move or two!
Zhongyi takes in the center
But now, it seems that Wenjun can exchange knight for bishop before recapturing. This seems like a very clean way for her to guide the game towards a simplified and very much equal position.
Wenjun continues to show the good form that she's demonstrated over the past week of play. She takes the bishop first, which means that she can now recapture the central pawn with her rook. And that will allow her to keep a healthier structure.
Zhongyi recaptures
She takes back with the pawn, which makes sense since the main alternative of taking with the queen would allow a queen trade. And from that point on, Zhongyi's chances of playing for a win would practically evaporate.
Wenjun takes her pawn back
As expected, she grabs it with the rook. The point is that if she had taken with the pawn, it would have opened up a central file which is currently dominated by Zhongyi's pieces. Besides this, it would also have ceded an outpost that Zhongyi could have planted her knight on.
Zhongyi moves into the outpost
She plants her knight on the outpost (a square controlled by a friendly pawn, but not controlled by any enemy pawn). The plan is to jump it forward along the route, to target the rook.
Wenjun covers the square
She steps her bishop up one square, in order to cover the weakness and stop Zhongyi from adding more activity to her knight.
Zhongyi lifts her rook up
Likely, she's bracing herself for an eventual pawn break by Wenjun. That would crack things open along the central file, so Zhongyi likely considers that having doubled up rooks will help her to navigate any chaos.
Wenjun doubles up rooks
I'm a little surprised that she didn't go for the immediate pawn break. The computer feels that if she had, she would have been the side with the better position! Nevertheless, her move is a solid and logical alternative. Perhaps she intends to make the pawn break one move later than expected.
Zhongyi doubles rooks
She concentrates her forces along the file that is likely to open up very soon.
Wenjun does go for the pawn break!
The more I think about it, the more that I like Wenjun's specific choice of move order. By allowing all the rooks to double up, this pawn break is now likely to lead to a massive series of exchanges. It's quite likely that all the rooks will come off the board, and that would simplify matters for Wenjun as she aims to guide the game to a draw.
It makes a lot of sense for Zhongyi to avoid the line of pawn takes pawn, since that would have immediately resulted in mass liquidations. That said, I don't see how this move fundamentally changes things since now Wenjun can initiate the rook exchanges by capturing the central pawn.
The reason why it's a slight imprecision, is that it seems that in the end Zhongyi will get a very similar kind of position as after pawn takes pawn, but perhaps a worse version of it since she'll begin by losing a pawn in the center rather than starting on an equal footing material wise.
Wenjun initiates the mass of exchanges, looking to force a queen and minor piece endgame.
Zhongyi recaptures quickly, since anyway she did not have much choice due to the pressure against both queen and rook.
Wenjun trades another pair of rooks.
Zhongyi is forced to recapture, as her queen and rook are both under fire.
Wenjun takes back, going up an extra pawn for now.
Could we be about to see a washout in this match?! With her last move, Zhongyi is allowing Wenjun to push her central pawn and in this way activate her queen along the diagonal. This temporary pawn sacrifice would give a major boost to her piece activity, setting up some very real winning chances!
It's a scary sight to face Ju Wenjun when she is this level of focused and seemingly able to just find one great move after another. She's been largely merciless the past 5 rounds, and it seems like today she's looking to produce more of the same type of precise and aggressive chess that has allowed her to build up a 3-point lead after just 7 rounds of play.
Zhongyi takes the pawn with her queen, since the alternative of recapturing with the pawn would be too problematic for her king safety.
Wenjun quickly recovers her pawn, once again returning to a situation where she's up material.
I think she is either at, or very close to, the point of no return. She launches her queen forward to target Wenjun's queenside pawns, but the problem is that in the process she is allowing Wenjun to take another pawn of hers. And that would leave her opponent with a very nasty passed pawn that is going to be close to impossible to control.
Wenjun correctly snaps up the pawn, securing a very dangerous passed pawn for herself in the process.
Zhongyi takes a pawn back
With this move, she also threatens both the bishop and pawn of Wenjun. So for sure she'll be able to get back to equal material if she wishes. But the problem is that Wenjun's pieces and pawns will be far stronger than Zhongyi's!
Machine-like precision from Wenjun, as she continues to find one best move after another. She anchors her bishop in such a way as to fully defend all of her queenside pawns. Soon, she'll be ready to march her passed pawn up the board.
Desperation!
A familiar tale for Zhongyi, as she finds herself once again in trouble against Ju Wenjun. It's clear that only Ju Wenjun is pressing for a win now, since for example she could force a draw on the spot by giving check after check. But I suspect that Wenjun will try to kill the match off by playing for a win from here.
Wenjun is going for the win!
She does not take too long on deciding whether to force a draw or to continue. With an objectively winning position and a quite sheltered king, she's got every chance to convert the full point and very little chance of her ambition backfiring.
Zhongyi grabs a pawn
She takes it with her knight, in order to activate her knight as much as possible. One of Zhongyi's last attempts at surviving this game will be to try and use her queen and knight to create some sort of mating threats against Wenjun's king.
Wenjun drops her queen back
She does so in order to clear the path for her passed pawn. With best play, the position is winning. But an analysis of the concrete line shows that Wenjun will have to be very precise over the next 4-6 moves, so for now Zhongyi still has some practical chances of muddying the waters.
Zhongyi gives a check, trying to approach the enemy king and weave some sort of net with her remaining pieces.
Wenjun moves into the correct square with her king. The alternative path would have allowed Zhongyi to achieve a drawing configuration, but it's looking like Wenjun has figured out all the complications.
Zhongyi threatens checkmate, forcing an immediate response from her opponent.
Wenjun drops back, in order to guard against the threat of mate.
Zhongyi agrees to the queen exchange, but now things are hopeless both objectively speaking and in practice. That's because without the queens, there's zero chance for Zhongyi to trick Wenjun with some sort of quickfire mating net.
Wenjun recaptures.
Zhongyi drops her knight back, in order to guard against the pawn's further advance.
Wenjun moves her bishop to the side, with the point being to assist the pawn to push one square further.
Zhongyi drops her knight back, targeting the pawn and also covering the eventual queening square of Wenjun's passer.
Wenjun pushes, since her pawn was under attack.
Zhongyi lifts her pawn up, in order to start bringing her king closer to the center (and to the advanced pawn).
Wenjun also approaches with her king.
Zhongyi inches closer towards the center.
Wenjun targets the enemy knight, forcing it to retreat to passively guard against the threat of promotion.
Forced, since if Wenjun had been given the chance, she would have captured the knight on the next move and after that promotion would have been inevitable.
A nice move, patiently improving matters. The dynamic that Wenjun is using in her favor is the fact that Zhongyi can never approach the queenside with her king, without running into a nasty bishop move that will start picking off her kingside pawns. Due to this, she's effectively paralyzed.
Zhongyi slightly improves her king. For now her king is well-placed here, but the problem is that if she moves it even one more square to the left, then Wenjun will invade with her bishop along the first rank and start collecting more pawns.
Wenjun activates her king a little more.
Zhongyi decides that she must eliminate this pawn sooner or later, though unfortunately for her this will lead to a quick collapse of her kingside.
Wenjun invades with her bishop at the right moment, ensuring that she'll win at least one of the kingside pawns. This should allow her to generate a deadly passed pawn on this flank over the coming moves.
Zhongyi goes for a clever practical try. Her point is that once Wenjun captures her pawn, she'll move the knight into the center in order to defend her remaining light-squared pawn on the right hand side.
Wenjun snaps up the pawn, threatening to win a second one.
Zhongyi defends her pawn, a vital move since if that pawn falls then the game goes with it.
What's crazy about this is that the only clear path to victory involves Wenjun now sacrificing her bishop in order to take that pawn, and then be able to move in with her king to win the other pawn. The question is: will Wenjun play this line with conviction, or will she hesitate and try to find a safer (but not correct) path to victory?!
Ju Wenjun drops the hammer down on Tan Zhongyi's position, finding the decisive breakthrough in the form of a rather daring bishop sacrifice. Now, it's a total collapse of the Zhongyi's kingside.
Zhongyi recaptures. She had little choice, since otherwise she would lose all her pawns anyway, but without gaining a piece in the process.
This is the point. Wenjun is now able to move forward with her king, piercing into the heart of Zhongyi's kingside. Her remaining pawn will be captured next.
Zhongyi returns with her knight to the center, preparing a possible fork to try and win one of Wenjun's kingside pawns on the next move.
Wenjun captures the pawn, unafraid of the possible knight check. She seems to have calculated things out until the end here. Her remaining pawn is a rook's pawn, and those are notoriously challenging for a knight to stop.
Zhongyi sees nothing better than to give a check. However, pretty much every king move wins. The only natural looking king move that doesn't win is to move it forward to the square directly in front of it (yellow arrow). So long as Wenjun avoids this, she should bring home to the full point very soon.
Wenjun moves her king forward, preparing to shoulder the knight away from the path of her pawn as it races towards promotion.
Zhongyi understands that taking the pawn on the right hand side leads to a fast loss, so she retreats her knight instead.
Wenjun approaches the enemy knight with her king.
Zhongyi collects one of the dangerous passed pawns. Unfortunately for her, there is now no stopping Wenjun's remaining kingside pawns.
Wenjun immediately marches forward. Either this pawn by itself, or with the aid of her other kingside pawn, will eventually break down the last of Zhongyi's defenses.
Zhongyi gives a check, trying to induce a mistake from her opponent. Ju Wenjun has only two winning squares to move her king to, but they are not hard moves to find.
Wenjun finds one of the winning squares! It makes a lot of sense, since from here the king is diagonally opposing Zhongyi's knight. And this configuration heavily restricts the enemy piece.
Zhongyi tries to approach with her king, hoping she can somehow engineer a way to trade off her knight for both of Wenjun's kingside passers.
Wenjun keeps marching forward, and is already going to charge Zhongyi a full piece by pushing the pawn up to the seventh rank on the next move.
Zhongyi moves her knight forward, in order to guard against the further advance of Wenjun's pawn.
Wenjun goes for the most direct path. The dilemma for Zhongyi is that she has nothing better than to take the pawn with her knight. But that leads to a hopelessly lost king and pawn endgame.
A truly huge win for Ju Wenjun, who secures another scalp with the Black pieces and moves four points clear, with just four rounds to go.
Ju Wenjun practically guarantees the title!
Another tough day at the chess board for the aspiring challenger, the very talented Tan Zhongyi.
It's not that she's been playing bad chess this match, far from it. But the problem is that it's hard to shine when you're facing a monster, and that's exactly what Ju Wenjun has morphed into ever since Tan Zhongyi drew first blood as early as game 2.
From that point forward, Ju Wenjun moved up a gear (or two, or three!) and simply started to outclass Tan Zhongyi in every game.
And once that steam train built up momentum, it became increasingly difficult for Zhongyi to contain the defending champion. One loss quickly turned to two, and once Wenjun handed her opponent the third loss, it already started to feel like Zhongyi was swimming against an increasingly violent current.
Today, Ju Wenjun once again demonstrated superb play. She remained solid out of the opening, and patiently waited for Zhongyi to go slightly wrong. And once the mistakes came in, she immediately punished them. By the late middlegame, Zhongyi was struggling to stay alive. And by the early endgame, she was convincingly lost. After that, all that was demanded of Ju Wenjun was to find a series of precise moves to force victory.
And, unsurprisingly given her immense form, she did just that! A tough pill to swallow for Tan Zhongyi, who will have to gather herself as well as possible to return to the board on Wednesday.
There will be 4 games remaining, and a 4-point deficit to overcome. And that means that, unless Zhongyi nets a win in round 9, then we will already be able to declare a winner for the 2025 Women's World Championship!