Ju Wenjun outscores Shuvalova, wins Women's Speed Chess Championship

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/5/2024 – Ju Wenjun was among the 10 players who received invitations to participate in the main event of the Women's Speed Chess Championship. The tournament was a 16-player knockout tournament, also featuring participants who had prevailed in the qualification process. In the final, Ju faced Polina Shuvalova and obtained a clear 12½-9½ victory, as she outscored her opponent in all 3 sections of the match. | Photo: Gu Xiaobing
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The world champ prevails in all 3 sections

The main event of the Julius Baer Women's Speed Chess Championship took place online from 22 August to 5 September. It was a knockout tournament featuring 16 players (10 invited and 6 qualifiers). Women's world champion Ju Wenjun and Russian IM Polina Shuvalova reached Thursday's final, a 150-minute match including sections of 5-minute games, 3-minute games and 1-minute games (all with 1-second increments).

Ju prevailed in all 3 sections, outscoring her opponent by 1 point in each of the segments - the final score was 12½-9½ in favour of the Chinese grandmaster. Ju was thus crowned champion of the online event.

On her way to the final, Ju obtained clear victories over Anna Sargsyan (13-3), Alice Lee (9½-5½) and Kateryna Lagno (14½-7½). Notably, the 33-year-old did not lose a single section throughout the 4 matches. Her worst result in a single section was a 2½-2½ draw with Lee in the bullet section of their quarterfinal encounter.

Women's Speed Chess Championship 2024

Ju has been the women's world champion in classical chess since 2018, when she defeated Tan Zhongyi in a 10-game match played in China. She has defended her title 3 times since, first in a 64-player knockout and then in 12-game matches against Aleksandra Goryachkina and Lei Tingjie. Ju will attempt to keep the crown in another match next year - Tan Zhongyi will be the challenger, as she prevailed in the Women's Candidates earlier this year.

Ranked second in the world in the classical ranking (behind long-time leader Hou Yifan), Ju is the fourth highest-rated blitz player in the world - her compatriots Hou, Lei and Tan are the top 3 in the world in this format. Notably, none of the 4 Chinese stars will participate in the upcoming Women's Chess Olympiad.

A fine victory by Ju

5-minute game

All games - Final match

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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.