Ju Wenjun triumphant at inaugural Norway Chess Women event

Same format, same prizes

Lei Tingjie obtained back-to-back classical wins in rounds 8 and 9 to enter the final round of the Norway Chess Women tournament with chances to claim overall victory. Moreover, her final-round opponent was sole leader Ju Wenjun, which meant a win in classical chess would grant her first place. However, Lei mishandled a symmetrical position and ended up losing the game, allowing world champion Ju to claim outright victory.

Ju took home around US$ 65,000, the same amount of money that Magnus Carlsen was awarded for winning the 12^th edition of the Norway Chess super-tournament. The organizers’ decision to put forth such conditions is a first in elite chess events. The idea is to motivate women chess players to improve their level to gain the right to participate in tournaments with attractive prize funds.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.3 - The Career Paths of Bishops

In this video course we will explore in depth some familiar concepts regarding the bishops. For example, everyone knows that a bishop-pair should grant him a positional edge.

Before Friday’s tenth round, Lei was tied for second place with Anna Muzychuk. Since Lei lost her classical encounter against Ju, a draw for Muzychuk against Humpy Koneru was enough to finish in sole second place. What is more, Muzychuk won the rapid decider against Humpy.

In the last confrontation to finish in the last round of the event, Pia Cramling managed to defeat R Vaishali in Armageddon after having played a 144-move classical game in which Cramling tried for long to convert a rook and bishop versus rook endgame. Vaishali led the standings in Stavanger from round 2 to round 6.

Final standings

Anna Muzychuk finished in sole second place | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Vaishali Rameshbabu and Pia Cramling | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Ju 1 - 0 Lei

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Ju, Wenjun2560

1–0

Lei, Tingjie2548

Norway Chess Women 2024 Stavanger07.06.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Guenther]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bf4 Nc6 5.e3 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 0-0 10.Bxc6 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Rc8 12.Ne5 Ng4 13.Nxg4 Bxg4 14.Qb4 Rxc6 15.Qxb7

White is a pawn up, but Black's development advantage outweighs this small material disadvantage. However, Lei now had to find the right move to prove this fact. 15...Qb6?! This is not so good. Better was 15...Qc8! 16.Qxc8 Rfxc8 17.0-0 h6= 16.Qxb6 axb6? And here 16...Rxb6 would be followed by 17.b3 Rc8 18.Kd2 Rbc6 19.Rhc1 and the bishop ending should still be enough for Black to draw. 17.Kd2 Rfc8 18.Rhc1 Kf8 19.a4 Ke8 20.Rxc6 Rxc6 21.b4 Bf5 22.a5 bxa5 23.bxa5

23...Ra6 23...Rc2+ 24.Ke1+- would not help. 24.Bc7 Kd7 25.Bb6 Ra8 26.a6 Kc6 27.Bc5

This interesting endgame is not as easy to win as it might seem at first glance. But Ju comes up with a good plan: she gradually penetrates the black position with all her pieces on the queenside until her opponent is practically unable to move. 27...e5 28.a7 Kb7 29.dxe5 Rc8 30.Ra5 Ka8 31.Kc3 Be6 32.Kb4 Rc7 33.Ra6 Rc8 34.Rd6 Kb7 35.Kb5 h5 36.Bd4 Re8 37.Ka5 Rc8 38.Rb6+ Ka8 39.Ka6 g5 40.Rd6 Rg8 41.Kb6 g4 42.Rc6 h4 43.Rc7 h3 44.gxh3 gxh3 45.Rb7 The final plan: Bd4-c5-d6 and White captures the b8-square. 1–0

A practical repertoire for the positional player after 1.d4 Vol.1 – 1….d5

I give promising mainlines for white against all black’s main replies to 1.d4 d5 that are engine-proof, easy to learn and can be played almost instantly.

Lei Tingjie | Photo: Stev Bonhage

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

Attacking with the Jobava London System

The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.

Links

• Official site
• Nakamura beats Caruana to win Norway Chess (2023)
• Magnus Carlsen wins Norway Chess for a fourth straight time (2022)
• Carlsen wins Norway Chess, Firouzja shines (2021)