Norway Chess Women: Vaishali scores, Humpy leads

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/1/2025 – Humpy Koneru is now the sole leader of the Norway Chess Women tournament after defeating Lei Tingjie in Armageddon following a drawn classical game. Anna Muzychuk was held to a draw in both games by Ju Wenjun, allowing the women's world champion to claim 1½ point, as she stands in sole third place. In the day's only classical win, Vaishali Rameshbabu beat Sara Khadem with black to climb to fourth place in the standings. | Photo: Michal Walusza
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Vaishali scores only classical win of the day

Humpy Koneru has taken the sole lead at the Norway Chess Women tournament after winning her round-five Armageddon game against Lei Tingjie. Both she and Anna Muzychuk entered the day tied for first, but while Humpy collected 1½ points in her mini-match, Muzychuk was held to a draw in both games by Ju Wenjun, allowing the reigning world champion to collect the extra half point.

In the day's only classical win, Vaishali Rameshbabu defeated Sara Khadem with black to climb to fourth place in the standings.

At the halfway mark, Humpy leads on 8½ points, followed by Muzychuk on 8 and Ju on 7.

Standings after round 5

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Humpy Koneru IND 2543 8½
2 Anna Muzychuk UKR 2526 8
3 Ju Wenjun CHN 2580 7
4 Vaishali R IND 2475 6½
5 Lei Tingjie CHN 2552 5
Sara Khadem SPA 2449 5

Norway Chess 2025

The open and women's sections take place in the same playing hall | Photo: Michal Walusza

Vaishali Rameshbabu secured her first classical victory of the event by beating Sara Khadem with black. The result came after a challenging start in Stavanger, where Vaishali had lost her round-one classical game and two subsequent Armageddon encounters. After bouncing back with an Armageddon win over Anna Muzychuk in round four, she continued her upward trajectory with a confident performance on Saturday.

Vaishali gained a clear advantage out of the opening and kept up the pressure throughout the middlegame. The game ended in a striking fashion, with the decisive tactical blow 35...Ne3+

The idea is that 36.fxe3 can be immediately refuted by 36...Qxf3+, forcing resignation. The win lifted Vaishali to fourth place in the standings.

GM Daniel King analysed the game on his popular YouTube channel:

Anna Muzychuk showed solid preparation in the classical game against Ju Wenjun, facing the latter's Berlin Defence. The game entered a major-piece endgame in which Muzychuk held an extra pawn. While engines gave White slight winning chances, the practical difficulties and Ju's active queen on g3 restricted Muzychuk's coordination and ultimately led to a draw.

In the Armageddon game, Ju once again played solidly with the black pieces. She managed to hold the balance throughout the 50-move contest, securing the draw she needed to win the mini-match. With this result, Ju picked up 1½ points and now sits in clear third place, one point behind Muzychuk.

Ju Wenjun

Ju Wenjun | Photo: Michal Walusza

Humpy Koneru took the sole lead in the tournament by beating Lei Tingjie in their Armageddon decider. Their classical game had ended peacefully in 31 moves, but the tiebreaker featured greater tension and several critical errors by both players.

Humpy emerged with the pair of bishops and an extra pawn. It was Lei who made the last mistake, though, with 30...Bh6

Lei allowed Humpy to win the knight on e5. The sequence 31.Rcxe5 Rxe5 32.Rxe5 Qc2 33.b3 Qc3 34.Rf5 allowed Lei to capture on e3 but left her vulnerable to a decisive attack.

After 34...Bxe3+ 35.Bxe3 Qxe3+ 36.Qf2 Qxb3 37.Rg5+ Kf8 38.Qc5+, Lei resigned, with mate-in-four on the board.

Humpy Koneru

Humpy Koneru | Photo: Michal Walusza

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

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Topics: Norway Chess 2025, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh
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.