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Indian GM R Vaishali grabbed the lead at the inaugural Norway Chess Women tournament after beating Humpy Koneru in the second round. The 22-year-old remained atop the standings until Sunday’s sixth round, when she suffered a first classical loss in her game with white against Ju Wenjun — the women’s world champion needed 102 moves to secure the win. Ju came from drawing her first five classical games and then prevailing in every single Armageddon decider.
After taking down the former sole leader, Ju climbed to shared first place, as she has collected the same number of points as Ukrainian GM Anna Muzychuk. Muzychuk, who came from collecting back-to-back classical wins in rounds 4 and 5, twice held Lei Tingjie to a draw with the black pieces to collect 1½ points on Sunday. In round 7, co-leaders Muzychuk and Ju will face each other (Muzychuk will play white).
The remaining round-6 encounter saw Pia Cramling prevailing in the rapid tiebreaker against Humpy. Cramling, the fifth woman to ever earn the GM title, had missed clear winning chances in previous encounters — particularly in round 3 against Ju — but finally managed her first mini-match victory in the sixth round.
Humpy Koneru playing white against Pia Cramling | Photo: Stev Bonhage
Endgame analysis by GM Karsten Müller
Vaishali Rameshbabu v. Ju Wenjun | Photo: Stev Bonhage
Rk | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts |
1 | Ju Wenjun | CHN | 2559 | 10.5 |
Anna Muzychuk | UKR | 2505 | 10.5 | |
3 | R Vaishali | IND | 2489 | 10 |
4 | Lei Tingjie | CHN | 2548 | 7 |
5 | Humpy Koneru | IND | 2545 | 5 |
6 | Pia Cramling | SWE | 2449 | 4.5 |
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