Women's World Championship: Lei Tingjie takes the lead

by André Schulz
7/11/2023 – The Women's World Championship match between challenger Lei Tingjie and reigning champion Ju Wenjun started with four draws, but in game 5 Lei Tingjie scored the first win of the match. She defeated Wu Wenjun with a convincing positional game. | Photos: Stev Bonhage (FIDE)

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Ju Wenjun and Lei Tingjie have been battling it out on equal terms so far. At the beginning, Lei Tingjie seemed to have a slight advantage in the first two games. In the third game, it was Ju Wenjun who gained a slight advantage. It was not enough to win any of the games, not even in the fourth game last Saturday, when Lei Tingjie pulled off another opening surprise, but was unable to overcome the reigning World Champion's resistance in the endgame. So far, the match has confirmed the position of both players in the FIDE World Ranking. With a rating of 2564 Ju Wenjun is number two on the women's ranking list, behind Hou Yifan, who has more or less retired from professional play. The Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina is number three on the list, and Lei Tingjie follows on place four with a rating of 2554.

After the rest day on Monday Lei Tingjie had White in game 5 and an Italian came on the board. This variation of the "Giuoco Piano", which has been played thousands of times in recent years, allows countless move-orders with a multitude of subtleties. Even top professionals admit that they have trouble getting to grips with all the subtleties.

In the Mega Database you can already find almost 25,000 games with this variation.

Gui Jinsong, Director of the Recreational Sports Department of the Shanghai Sports Administration, and Zhou Jia, President of the Yueyang Hospital of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine at Shanghai University, opened the game

Against Ju Wenjun's 6...a5 Lei Tingjie opted for a line with Bb3, Re1 and an early d4, which has not been played very often so far. As a result, Lei Tingjie got play on the queenside, which she was able to extend more and more. Black on the other hand was constantly suffering from a passive black bishop and weaknesses on the white squares. Once she had the advantage, Lei Tingjie built on it to win the first game of the match.

Lei Tingjie25541–0Ju Wenjun2566
WWCCM 2023
Shanghai11.07.2023[Schulz,A]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 a5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.Re1 Ba7 9.h3 Be6 10.Bc2 h6 11.d4 exd4 12.Nxd4 12.cxd4 yields nothing for White: d5 13.e5 Ne4 and taking the pawn with 14.Bxe4 dxe4 15.Rxe4 Bd5 is not a good idea for White. 12...Bd7 12...Nxd4 13.cxd4 d5 14.e5 Ne4 15.Nc3 13.Be3 Ne5 A previous game went 13...Re8 14.Nd2 Nxd4 15.cxd4 Bb5 16.a4 Ba6 17.Ra3 c5 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Bxc5 dxc5 20.e5 Nd5 21.Rg3 Nf4 22.Qg4 Nh5 23.Qxh5 Qxd2 24.Re4 Qxc2 25.Qxh6 Qd1+ 26.Kh2 g6 27.Rxg6+ fxg6 28.Qxg6+ Kf8 29.Rf4+ Ke7 30.Rf7+ Kd8 31.Qb6+ 1-0 (31) Andersen,M (2570)-Lipok,C (2271) Germany 2022 14.Nd2 c5 15.N4f3 Bc6 16.Nxe5 dxe5 17.a4 Qe7 18.Qe2 Another plan is 18.Qf3 Rfd8 19.Nf1 -- and 20.Ng3 18...Rfd8 19.Red1 Bb8 20.Qc4 b6 21.b4 White uses the chance to push her b-pawn as the bishop on c6 is undefended. axb4 21...Bd6!? 22.b5 Bd7 22.cxb4 Bd6 23.b5 Bd7 24.Qc3
White has good play on the queenside. 24...Be6 25.Nc4 Bxc4 26.Qxc4 Now White has the bishops pair, whereas Black's bishop on d6 has little prospects. Ne8 The knight wants to go to d4. 27.Bb3 Nc7 28.Qc2 28.Qe2!? Ne6 29.Bd5 Rab8 30.a5 28...Ne6 29.Bd5 Rab8 30.Bxe6 Qxe6 31.Rd5 Be7 32.Rad1 Rxd5 33.Rxd5 Ra8 After 33...Rd8 34.Rxd8+ Bxd8 35.a5 bxa5 36.Qxc5 White's passed pawn is more dangerous. 34.Bd2 Kf8 35.Bc3 f6 36.Qb3
Threatening Rd8. Black is very passive and in the further course of the game is forced to weaken herself. 36...Qc8 37.Qc4 Qe8 38.g3 Qc8 39.Kg2 Qe8 Black can only wait. 40.h4 h5 41.Bd2 Rb8
White quickly increases her advantage. 42.f4 exf4 43.Bxf4 Rb7 44.Qe2 g6 45.e5 Qa8? A better try was 45...Rd7 46.Qf3 Rxd5 47.Qxd5 g5 48.hxg5 fxg5 49.Bd2 though White is still clearly better. 46.Qf3 Threatening to win material with 47.exf6. Black is lost. f5 47.Rd7 Ra7 48.Qxa8+ Also strong is 48.Bh6+ Ke8 49.Rxa7 Qxa7 50.e6 48...Rxa8 49.e6 Rxa4 50.Rb7 Ra8 White threatened 50...-- 51.Rb8+ Kg7 52.Be5+ Bf6 53.Rb7+ 51.Rxb6 c4 52.Rc6 Bd8 53.b6 Ra2+ 54.Kf3 Rb2 55.Rc8 Black loses the bishop. Rb3+ 56.Ke2 Rxb6 56...Ke7 57.Bg5++- 57.Rxd8+ Ke7 58.Rc8 Rxe6+ 59.Kd2 Re4 60.Kc3 Kf7 61.Rxc4 Re8 62.Rc7+ Kf6 63.Bg5+ Ke5 64.Re7+ Rxe7 65.Bxe7
1–0

The sixth game of the match will be played in Shanghai on Wednesday. Then, the World Championship match moves to Lei Tingjie's hometown of Chongqing for the second half of the competition and, if necessary, the play-offs. The move on Thursday will be followed by another rest day on Friday.

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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