Norway Chess Women: Ju beats Cramling, grabs the lead

Two clear frontrunners

With two rounds to go at the inaugural Norway Chess Women event, Ju Wenjun and Anna Muzychuk are the favourites to end up taking the title. Ju stands in sole first place, 1½ points ahead of her Ukrainian colleague, while Lei Tingjie and R Vaishali stand 2 points further back and still have outside chances of claiming the title.

Ju grabbed the sole lead by beating Pia Cramling in their round-8 encounter, while former leader Muzychuk lost to Vaishali in Armageddon. The remaining encounter saw Lei getting the better of Humpy Koneru in their classical-chess confrontation.

Humpy’s 61...Kd2 was the losing mistake.

Black could have kept the battle going with 61...Re7+, since White can only escape a perpetual check via 62.Kg6 Re8 63.Kf6, but after 63...Rc8, everything is still under control and White will need to look for a more sophisticated way to make progress.

Instead, the game followed with 62.Rh1 e2 63.h8Q Rxh8 64.Kxh8

Magical Chess Endgames Vol. 1 & 2 + The magic of chess tactics

In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.

The problem for Humpy is that she cannot regain the rook with 64...e1Q, since that would lead to a losing pawn endgame. Thus, the rook and two pawns will easily win the game for Lei. Resignation followed shortly after.

It should be noted that all this sequence was played with both contenders playing with less than a minute on their clocks. The players in Stavanger only get 10-second increments after reaching move 41.

Still with outside chances of winning the tournament — Lei Tingjie | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Ju 1 - 0 Cramling

Analysis by André Schulz

Ju, Wenjun2560

1–0

Cramling, Pia2449

Norway Chess Women 2024 Stavanger04.06.2024[Schulz,A]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd2 b6 6.Bd3 Bb7 7.Nge2 More common here is 7.Nf3 7...d5 7...Bxg2 8.Rg1 Bf3 9.Rg3 Bh5 10.e4 With the strong centre and the open g-file, White has compensation for the pawn she has given up. 8.cxd5 exd5 9.0-0 Re8 10.Rc1 a6 11.f3 Bd6 12.g4 h6 13.Qe1 c5 14.Qh4 Nbd7=

15.Qf2 Nf8 16.h4 Ne6 17.Kh1 17.Qg2 Nd7 18.f4= 17...b5 18.a3 18.dxc5? Nxc5 is too dangerous for White: 19.Bb1 d4 20.Nxd4 Nxg4-+ 18...Nd7 19.Rg1 Ndf8 20.f4 cxd4 21.exd4

21...Nc5 22.Bc2 22.dxc5? Bxc5 23.Qxc5 d4+ 24.Kh2 24.Ne4 Rxe4 25.Bxe4 Bxe4+ 26.Rg2 Qxh4+ 27.Kg1 Bxg2 28.Kxg2 Qxg4+ 29.Kf2 Qh4+ 30.Kg2 30.Kf3 Qh3+ 31.Ng3 Ng6 with a strong attack. 30...Qg4+ with perpetual check. 24...Qxh4# 22...Ne4 23.Nxe4 dxe4 24.Be3 Rc8 25.f5 Qd7 25...g5!? 26.hxg5 26.fxg6 Nxg6 26...hxg5= 26.Bb3 Rxc1 27.Nxc1 Bb8 28.Ne2 Bd5 29.Bxd5 Qxd5=

30.f6 Ne6 Also playable was 30...g6 31.Bxh6 Nh7= 31.fxg7 Kxg7? The losing move. The correct reaction was 31...Nxg7 e.g.: 32.Bxh6 e3+ 33.Qg2 Qe6= 32.Rf1 Nf8 33.Qf6+ Kg8 34.Bxh6 e3+ 35.Kg1 Ne6 35...Ne6 36.Qxf7+ Black is mated. 1–0

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.

Pia Cramling during round 7 | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Standings after round 8

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)