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We are facing a unique situation in the world of women’s chess, where we do not know who the World Champion for 2014 is but we know for sure who the challenger in the 2015 match is going to be! The 2014 Women’s World Champion is to be determined by a 64 player knockout tournament that is going to be held in October this year. However, thanks to winning the 2013-14 Grand Prix cycle Hou Yifan has already earned the right to be the challenger in the 2015 World Championship match. Just in case Hou Yifan also wins the 2014 world championship title, then Koneru Humpy, who was placed second in the FIDE Grand Prix cycle, would be her challenger.
A WGM with full GMs: Ju Wenjun winning the
Sharjah Grand Prix – with GMs Hou Yifan in second
place, Harika Dronavalli in third, and Humpy Koneru standing on the right,
Zhao Xue on the left
The FIDE Grand Prix cycle consisted of six tournaments. It started from May 2013 with the first one at Geneva, Switzerland and ended in September 2014 in Sharjah, UAE. The last leg was won by a talented Chinese girl whose name is not Hou Yifan! It was Ju Wenjun who stole the limelight in Sharjah, winning it with a score of 8.5/11.
Just a month ago I chatted with Ju Wenjun asked her for an interview. Last Sunday she won her first FIDE Grand Prix and I feel this is the perfect time to bring some of her thoughts for her fans and also put light on the achievements of this really talented player.
Ju Wenjun is now the second strongest female player in China and fourth strongest in the world
Ju Wenjun, born in 1991, fell in love with the game when she heard an interesting lecture about chess in her primary school. Since then she has moved from strength to strength, winning almost every tournament that is important in the career of a woman chess player. She won the Chinese Women Chess Championships in 2010 and repeated that performance in 2014. She was the winner of the strong 1st Hangzhou Women Grandmaster Chess tournament ahead of Hou Yifan in 2011, and now she has capped it all with a victory at the recently concluded Sharjah FIDE Grand Prix, finishing third in the overall 2013-14 cycle behind Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy.
Women's Grand Prix Series 2013-2014 standings (click to enlarge)
Wenjun has a live rating of 2580 after her 19-point gain at the Sharjah tournament which makes her the number two Chinese player and number four in the world in women’s chess, after Judit, Hou Yifan and Humpy. Just in case you are wondering why she is still just a woman grandmaster (WGM) and not a full-fledged grandmaster (GM), it is because one of her three GM norms was declined in 2011 as the signature of the arbiter was missing. She made her third required norm in the fifth leg of the Grand Prix in Lopota in June 2014 and thus will be awarded the title of GM pretty soon.
Niklesh Jain: Many congratulations on your great victory. How important was it for you?
Ju Wenjun: Thank You. It is my first in a Grand Prix championship. Though it’s shared first, I am still quite happy about this. It’s a big progress for me.
NJ: In any tournament, what is the differentiating factor between the champion and other players?
JW: I think it is strong opening, middle and endgame technique and the ability to deliver a stable performance that makes the champion different from other players.
NJ: According to you, which round was the most crucial game in this tournament for you?
JW: My game with Danielian. I was almost losing, but in time pressure my opponent made some mistakes and I finally I won. I survived by luck!
Elina Danielian just cannot believe that she botched up the ending
On the other hand some luck is definitely essential to win a championship!
NJ: You are one of the strongest women chess players in the world. Your team mate Hou Yifan is the current Women’s World Champion. What is your aim regarding WWCC?
JW: My aim is to play my best and hopefully one day I will have the chance to challenge the world champion.
The Chinese women at the Tromso Olympiad 2014 didn't have a bad event, though they did not obtain gold
NJ: With whom would you like to share the credit for the victory in the Sharjah Grand Prix?
JW: My chess association, the Shanghai Chess Sports Management Center and all my friends who care for me.
NJ: How will you celebrate this victory?
JW: I will stay at home, have some rest and will soon play in another chess event.
No celebrations – just some rest and back to chess!
NJ: How happy are you about the women’s chess tournaments organized by the FIDE in last couple of years?
JW: I appreciate the fact that FIDE has organized plenty of women chess tournaments and also have developed the women chess. It gives players like me more opportunity to enjoy playing and show my skills to everyone.
The FIDE Grand Prix not only helps women play
in tournaments all over
the world but also visit some exotic locations and meet exotic beings!
Ju Wenjun was also kind enough to send us one of her crucial wins in the tournament against Dronavalli Harika with some of her annotations.
The win against Harika in round nine helped Ju Wenjun to keep the lead and in the end win the tournament.
We congratulate Ju Wenjun for her fantastic performance and wish her all the best for the Women’s World Chess Championship 2014.