Daniel King's Power Play Show: Ju Wenjun strikes

by Daniel King
5/8/2025 – In the latest episode of the Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at some of the highlights from the Women's World Championship match between defending champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Tan Zhongyi. After a shaky start, Ju Wenjun defended her title with a clear 6.5-2.5 victory. | Watch Power Play on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.
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The diagram below shows a position from the third game of the match. Ju Wenjun played the endgame brilliantly, and went on to win by marching the king along the eighth rank to  support the c-pawn; however, at this point she could have finished quicker. How?

Game 4 ended in a draw. In the position shown in the diagram below,  Ju played the bishop to e4 and managed to hold the draw, but there was a  fascinating alternative: 30...d4!? How should White react? Tricky!

And now a mate-in-two.

Glorious sacrifices, unexpected tactics and checkmating attacks. The King's Gambit is one of the oldest and most romantic openings in the game of chess. These DVDs contain all you need to know to play the King's Gambit.

This week's show

Previous shows

You’ll find older broadcasts in the Power Play category. To watch these you’ll need a ChessBase Premium Account.

Daniel King is the prolific author of the Power Play series which numbers 28 volumes to date. The Tactic Turbo for the King’s Gambit is the subject of his most recent DVD.

Here’s a teaser:

Daniel King presents 50 puzzle positions in video format, all arising from the King's Gambit. They feature typical tactics from the opening, so this is a great way of becoming familiar with the tricks and traps that you can set your opponent.

Links

<< Women's GP Austria: Vaishali and Tan take the lead in round full of comebacks and collapses
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Topics: Power Play Show
Daniel King is a regular on playchess.com. Commentating on live events such as the World Championship or analysing themes for his monthly Power Play Show. He also produces a DVD series called Power Play for ChessBase in the Fritztrainer format.
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Video

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.

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