Assaubayeva 2½ points ahead of Deshmukh

Bibisara Assaubayeva strengthened her lead at Norway Chess Women with a classical win over Zhu Jiner, while Divya Deshmukh and Anna Muzychuk collected Armageddon victories after drawing their classical games. The results favoured Assaubayeva, who now has a 2½-point lead over Deshmukh going into round eight.

Muzychuk now stands half a point ahead of Ju in sole third place, still within range of the leader under the Norway Chess scoring system.

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Round 7 results

Standings after round 7

Assaubayeva's victory over Zhu gave her a second classical win in Oslo and continued a notably strong recent run against the Chinese grandmaster. Over the last half year, she has won seven of their eight games, a sequence that includes two wins at the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament.

The Kazakh grandmaster emerged from the opening with a large advantage, while Zhu soon found herself under serious pressure in an unfamiliar line. Assaubayeva did not play the position perfectly and gave her opponent chances to return to the game, but Zhu failed to use them. The decisive mistake came on move 21, when Zhu, despite having 46 minutes on her clock, spent less than a minute before playing 21...Bxd5??

The capture on d5 was a blunder that dropped a full piece - after 22.Kxd4 Bxe4 23.Bxe4 Rd8+ White has 24.Bd5, pinning the rook with the pinned bishop!

(Correct for Black was 21...Nf5+ 22.Kf4 Re5 23.exf5 Bxd5 and, though White is still for choice, the battle continues.)

White got a key tempo to activate one of her rooks, soon consolidated her position and ended up winning with the extra bishop.

Fritz 21

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Bibisara Assaubayeva facing Zhu Jiner | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

Deshmukh began the round 1 point behind Assaubayeva and looked likely to keep pace in the all-Indian clash against Humpy Koneru. Playing black, she chose the Benko Gambit and obtained full compensation for the pawn. In fact, Deshmukh appeared close to converting the classical game, but Koneru managed to escape with a draw. The result meant Divya lost ground in the race for first place, though she recovered by winning the Armageddon decider.

Once again Deshmukh used the Benko, and although Koneru was the first to deviate and obtained a promising position, her position deteriorated quickly after the inaccurate 15.Qe6?!

Deshmukh's tiebreak win means she can still overtake Assaubayeva with a classical victory when they meet in round eight.

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Divya Deshmukh twice played the Benko Gambit in the all-Indian encounter against Humpy Koneru | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

Ju Wenjun and Anna Muzychuk also drew their classical game before Muzychuk prevailed in Armageddon.

The tiebreaker followed a pattern that has become costly for the women's world champion in Oslo, as Ju has struggled in the faster format throughout the tournament. Muzychuk built up pressure, and the decisive moment came when Ju, while down on the clock, played 24.Nd4?, allowing her queen to be trapped.

Muzychuk converted the win, handing Ju a sixth consecutive Armageddon loss.

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Ju Wenjun v. Anna Muzychuk | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

Links

• Official website
• Norway Chess announces move to Oslo for 2026 edition