Since 2011, after ten years of knockout tournaments, the Women’s World Championship has been decided in matches six times. All six matches have featured at least one Chinese player, with Hou Yifan (now retired from the cycle) winning in 2011, 2013 and 2016.
In 2017, Tan Zhongyi won a 64-player knockout tournament in Tehran to get the world crown. The next year, in 2018, Tan was defeated in a 10-game match by Ju Wenjun — who managed to defend her title three times, first in a 64-player knockout event and then in 12-game matches against Aleksandra Goryachkina and Lei Tingjie.
Now, six years after losing the match against Ju, Tan gained the right to face the current champion again by winning the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Toronto.
Tan collected 5 wins, 8 draws and 1 loss to win the event convincingly with 9/14 points, leaving three players in shared second place 1½ points behind. After grabbing back-to-back wins in the first two rounds, the eventual champion showed the strongest, most consistent chess throughout the event, though a setback in round 8 left her temporarily tied for first place with Lei Tingjie and Aleksandra Goryachkina.
The champion’s strong performance gained her 19.2 rating points, allowing her to climb to sixth place in the women’s live ratings list. She currently stands 18.8 points behind Ju — the world champion stands in second place, behind Hou, who is in a league of her own with a 2632 Elo rating.
Tan and Ju are two deserving contenders for the world title, as they belong to the elite group of women who have achieved and consistently maintained a 2500+ rating. We expect the match to once again take place in China (like the 2023 contest, which was played in Shanghai and Chongqing), and we look forward to seeing Tan receiving invitations to strong tournaments — following in the footsteps of the Tata Steel Festival in Wijk aan Zee, which invited Ju to play in the Masters this year.
A former women’s world champion who might regain the title in a match against current champion Ju Wenjun! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Tan Zhongyi, playing black, signed a 36-move draw with Anna Muzychuk to secure the title | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Besides Tan and Lei, who became the only two contenders to take first place after Goryachkina’s consecutive losses in rounds 10 and 11, a young player made headlines in the final rounds of the tournament: 22-year-old Vaishali Rameshbabu.
Praggnanandhaa’s sister entered the event as the second-lowest rated player in the field, had a fifty-percent score after five rounds, and then had a total meltdown in rounds 6-9, when she lost four games in a row to fall to the cellar of the standings with 2½/9 points. However, the fighting spirit of the 22-year-old from Chennai allowed her to end the event in style — winning her final five games to climb to shared second place!
Vaishali’s astounding comeback was also instrumental for Tan’s overall victory in Toronto, as the Indian GM-elect got the better of Goryachkina and Lei in her final winning streak.
In round 14, Vaishali got the better of Kateryna Lagno to end the event with a +1 score. Similarly to some of her previous wins, the game featured a number of evaluation swings, as Vaishali did not shy away from entering complications against her higher-rated opponents.
In the final standings, Vaishali shared second place with Lei and Humpy Koneru. Like Vaishali, Humpy also had a better second half of the event, as she lost twice in the first seven rounds, and achieved all three of her victories in the final seven rounds — including her victory with the black pieces over Lei on Sunday.
Vaishali Rameshbabu | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Humpy Koneru finished in shared second place with her compatriot Vaishali and... | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
...Lei Tingjie, who played bold chess in the final rounds, as she tried to catch up with Tan Zhongyi atop the standings | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Kateryna Lagno | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina finished with a 7/14 score | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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