Norway Chess Women: Muzychuk catches Humpy in the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/2/2025 – Anna Muzychuk joined Humpy Koneru in the lead at the Norway Chess Women tournament after winning her Armageddon game in round six, while Humpy was defeated by Vaishali Rameshbabu in the tiebreaker. Ju Wenjun and Vaishali, who secured 1½ points with Armageddon wins, remain close behind the co-leaders in the standings. | Photo: Michal Walusza
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All matchups go to Armageddon

All three classical games ended drawn in round six of the Norway Chess Women tournament, with Anna Muzychuk, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Ju Wenjun prevailing in Armageddon to collect 1½ points each. These results led to a shift at the top of the standings, as Muzychuk moved up to share first place with Humpy Koneru on 9½ points.

Ju Wenjun, who has not played a single decisive classical game so far, continued her strong run in the tiebreaks. With her fifth Armageddon win out of six mini-matches, she now stands just one point behind the two co-leaders. Vaishali also maintained her upward momentum, defeating Sara Khadem in Armageddon to reach 8 points. After a slow start to the event, she has now won mini-matches against both Muzychuk and Humpy, and also claimed a classical victory against Khadem earlier in the tournament.

The standings remain tightly packed with four rounds to go, and round seven will feature the direct clash between co-leaders Humpy and Muzychuk. Humpy will have the white pieces in a game that, due to the scoring system in place, is guaranteed to produce a point difference between the two. With Ju and Vaishali close behind, and several rounds still to be played, the outcome of the tournament is far from decided.

Standings after round 6

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Humpy Koneru IND 2543 9½
Anna Muzychuk UKR 2526 9½
3 Ju Wenjun CHN 2580 8½
4 Vaishali R IND 2475 8
5 Lei Tingjie CHN 2552 6
Sara Khadem SPA 2449 6

Sara Khadem, Anna Muzychuk

Sara Khadem facing Anna Muzychuk | Photo: Michal Walusza

Vaishali Rameshbabu

Vaishali Rameshbabu prevailed in the all-Indian confrontation against co-leader Humpy Koneru | Photo: Michal Walusza

Ju 1-0 Lei

Analysis by André Schulz

Ju Wenjun

Women's world champion Ju Wenjun | Photo: Michal Walusza

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.