.jpeg)
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
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
Analysis by André Schulz
Pia Cramling during round 7 | Photo: Stev Bonhage
| Rk | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts |
| 1 | Ju Wenjun | CHN | 2559 | 14.5 |
| 2 | Anna Muzychuk | UKR | 2505 | 13 |
| 3 | Lei Tingjie | CHN | 2548 | 11.5 |
| R Vaishali | IND | 2489 | 11.5 | |
| 5 | Humpy Koneru | IND | 2545 | 8 |
| 6 | Pia Cramling | SWE | 2449 | 5.5 |
