Norway Chess Women: Muzychuk beats Ju, tops the standings

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/6/2025 – All three classical games ended decisively in round nine of the Norway Chess Women tournament, leading to a major shift at the top of the standings. Anna Muzychuk defeated defending champion Ju Wenjun to overtake Humpy Koneru, who lost to Lei Tingjie after misplaying a winning position. Sara Khadem also prevailed in her game against Vaishali Rameshbabu. With one round to go, Muzychuk holds a two-point lead going into her final game with the white pieces. | Photo: Michal Walusza
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Three decisive results in classical chess

Round nine of the Norway Chess Women tournament saw a major shift at the top of the standings, as all three games ended decisively in classical play. Anna Muzychuk took the lead with a crucial win over defending champion Ju Wenjun, while former sole leader Humpy Koneru was defeated by Lei Tingjie after misplaying from a winning position. In the remaining game, Sara Khadem scored her second classical win of the event, defeating Vaishali Rameshbabu with the black pieces.

Muzychuk, who had entered the round trailing Humpy by one point, now stands alone atop the standings with one round to go. Her win over Ju allowed her to leapfrog both Humpy and the Chinese representative in one go. Meanwhile, Lei’s victory over Humpy halted the leader's momentum and kept her own hopes alive.

In the final round, Muzychuk will face Vaishali with the white pieces, while Humpy and Ju are set to play one another.

Standings after round 9

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Anna Muzychuk UKR 2526 15½
2 Humpy Koneru IND 2543 13½
3 Lei Tingjie CHN 2552 13
4 Ju Wenjun CHN 2580 12½
5 Vaishali R IND 2475 9½
6 Sara Khadem SPA 2449 9

Sara Khadem

Sara Khadem deafeted Vaishali Rameshbabu | Photo: Michal Walusza

Ju, Wenjun25800–1Muzychuk, Anna2526
Norway Chess Women 2025
Stavanger05.06.2025[Schulz,A]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nxc3 This leads to the Rubinstein System 6...Nc7 7.0-0 e5 8.d3 Be7 9.Nd2 Bd7 10.Nc4 7.bxc3 e5 8.0-0 Be7 9.d3 0-0 The position corresponds to an Accelerated Dragon with colours reversed. 10.Rb1 Qc7 11.Nd2 Be6 12.Nc4 12.c4 Rac8 13.Ne4 b6 14.Nc3 Qd7 15.Nd5 Bd6 16.a4 f5 17.Bd2= 1-0 (44) Carlsen,M (2833)-Tari,A (2621) Chess.com INT 2025 12...Rad8 13.Qa4 Bd7 14.Ne3 Be6 14...Nd4 15.Qd1 Nc6 16.Nd5+- 15.c4 Qd7 16.Nd5
16...Bd6 17.Bd2 Nd4 18.Qd1 Bg4 19.Re1 b6 20.Bc3 f5 21.f3 Bh5 22.e3 Nc6 23.e4
23...f4 24.gxf4 Rxf4!? The exchange sacrifice in return for the dominant knight on d5 is not a bad deal for Black. 24...exf4 25.e5 Be7 26.e6 Qd6 27.Bh3 25.Nxf4 exf4 26.e5 Be7 27.d4? White gives up a pawn for no compensation. Better was 27.e6 Qc7 28.Qe2 Bg6 29.Rbd1 Bh4 but Black still has good play for the exchange. 27...cxd4 28.Bd2 Qf5 29.Qe2 Bc5 30.Kh1 Bg6 30...d3 31.Qf1 Nxe5-+ 31.e6 d3 32.Qf1 Nd4 33.Rbd1 Ne2 34.Bh3 Qh5
Black stands clearly better. 35.Bb4 Be4 35...Bxb4 36.Rxe2 Rd6-+ does not change the evaluation either. 36.fxe4 Bxb4 37.e7 Bxe7 38.Be6+ Kh8 39.Qh3 Qxh3 40.Bxh3 Bh4 41.Rf1 Nc3 42.Ra1 d2 43.Bg4 g5 44.e5 Kg7 45.Kg2 Kg6 46.h3 h5
White's position is completely lost. But she wants to be shown her opponent's technique. 47.Bd1 Kf5 48.Bxh5 Kxe5 49.a4 a5 50.Bf3 Rd3 51.Ra3 Kd4 52.Rb3 Be1 53.Bh5 Nxa4 54.Rb1 Kc5 55.Rb5+ Kxc4 56.Rxg5 Rg3+ 57.Rxg3 Bxg3 58.h4 Nc3 59.Kh3 Kd3 60.Bf3 Bxh4 61.Kxh4 Kc2 62.Kg5 b5 63.Kxf4 b4 64.Bh5 d1Q 65.Bxd1+ Nxd1 66.Rh1 b3 67.Rh2+ Kc1 0–1

Ju Wenjun, Anna Muzychuk

Ju Wenjun facing Anna Muzychuk in an all-important encounter | Photo: Michal Walusza

Lei, Tingjie25521–0Koneru, Humpy2543
Norway Chess Women 2025
Stavanger05.06.2025[Schulz,A]
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be6 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 c6 8.Nf3 h6 9.Bf4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.Be5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Qc7 13.Qa4 Bd7 14.h3 Ng7 15.e4 d4 16.Qxd4 Ne6 17.Qc4 Nf4 18.Bf1 0-0-0 19.0-0-0 Be6 20.Rxd8+ Qxd8 21.Qd4 Qa5 22.g3
22...Bc5? Black has the right idea, but executes it incorrectly. Apparently, she missed White's reply. The correct bishop move was 22...Bb4 with the idea 23.gxf4 Rd8 24.Qe3 gxf4 25.Qxf4 Bxc3 26.bxc3 Qxc3+ 27.Kb1 Rd1+ and White gets mated. 23.Qa4 Qb6 23...Qxa4 24.Nxa4 and two black pieces are hanging. 24.gxf4 Bxf2 25.Be2 Very strong was also 25.f5 Qe3+ 26.Nd2 Rd8 27.Qd1+- 25...Qe3+ 26.Kb1 Qxf4 27.Nd4 Black's position is lost. Bd7 28.Bg4 Bxg4 29.hxg4 Qxe5 30.Nf5 Qf4 31.Qc4 Qxg4 32.Nd6+ Kc7 33.Qxf7+ Qd7 34.Ncb5+ 34.Ncb5+ cxb5 35.Rc1+ Kxd6 36.Rd1+ 1–0

Lei Tingjie

Lei Tingjie | Photo: Michal Walusza

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<< Norway Chess: Carlsen and Gukesh collect 3 points, enter last round as frontrunners
Game of the Week #674: H. Nakamura - Gukesh, Norway Chess 2025 >>
Topics: Anna Muzychuk, Lei Tingjie, Norway Chess 2025
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.
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See also

Norway Chess Women: Muzychuk catches Humpy in the lead

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

See also

Norway Chess Women: Muzychuk grabs classical win over Humpy, leads

5/28/2025 – Anna Muzychuk took the sole lead at the Norway Chess Women tournament after scoring the only classical win of round two, defeating Humpy Koneru with white. Lei Tingjie and Ju Wenjun both secured Armageddon victories with the black pieces, against Vaishali Rameshbabu and Sara Khadem, respectively. Muzychuk now leads with 4½ points, while Humpy and Lei share second place on 3 points. | Photo: Michal Walusza
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