Norway Chess Women: Muzychuk in the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/4/2024 – In the clash of co-leaders at the Norway Chess Women tournament, Anna Muzychuk defeated Ju Wenjun with white in Armageddon to go into the final three rounds atop the standings. Meanwhile, Humpy Koneru got the better of R Vaishali in their classical encounter and Lei Tingjie beat Pia Cramling in the Armageddon tiebreaker. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess
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Muzychuk (also) wins on time

Much like in the open section of the Norway Chess event, round 7 in the women’s tournament saw the most important confrontation of the day ending with one of the contenders losing on time. In this case, it was Ju Wenjun who ran out of time in the Armageddon tiebreaker against Anna Muzychuk. Muzychuk, who underperformed at the Candidates Tournament, is now the sole leader in Stavanger.

Ju, playing white, was flagged in the following — balanced — position.

60.Rh7+ was the last move played in the game. It is true that White is the one putting pressure with her active king and knight, but Black should get enough compensation to hold a draw due to White’s weakened pawn on a5.

Lei Tingjie also prevailed in Armageddon, as she beat Pia Cramling with black in the rapid tiebreaker. The one encounter that featured a decisive classical game was the all-Indian confrontation between Humpy Koneru and R Vaishali — Humpy inflicted a second consecutive classical loss on the former sole leader.

Vaishali now stands in third place, 1½ points behind Ju and 2 points behind Muzychuk, her round-8 opponent.

Anna Muzychuk, Ju Wenjun

Anna Muzychuk v. Ju Wenjun | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Humpy 1 - 0 Vaishali

Analysis by André Schulz

Humpy Koneru

Humpy Koneru | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Standings after round 7

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Anna Muzychuk UKR 2505 12
2 Ju Wenjun CHN 2559 11.5
3 R Vaishali IND 2489 10
4 Lei Tingjie CHN 2548 8.5
5 Humpy Koneru IND 2545 8
6 Pia Cramling SWE 2449 5.5

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

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

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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.