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

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

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

New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 7.Nf3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 0-0 11.Bc4 b6 12.d5 Ba6 13.Bxa6 Nxa6 14.d6 Nc5 15.e5 f6 16.exf6 Qxf6 17.0-0 Rad8 18.Rad1 Rd7 19.Rfe1 Rfd8 20.Ne5 Rxd6 21.Qxd6 Rxd6 22.Rxd6 h6 23.h3 Kh7 24.Rd4 Qf5 25.Re2 b5 26.g4 Qb1+ 27.Kg2 a5 28.h4 g5 29.hxg5 hxg5 30.Nf3 Kg6 31.Re5 Nd3 32.Rxe6+ Kf7 33.Nxg5+ Kf8 34.Rd8+ Kg7 35.Rd7+ Kf8 36.Rf7+ Kg8 37.Re8# 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ju,W2769Shuvalova,P27471–02024Main Event4.1
Shuvalova,P2740Ju,W27760–12024Main Event4.2
Ju,W2783Shuvalova,P2733½–½2024Main Event4.3
Shuvalova,P2734Ju,W27821–02024Main Event4.4
Ju,W2773Shuvalova,P27430–12024Main Event4.5
Shuvalova,P2752Ju,W27640–12024Main Event4.6
Ju,W2772Shuvalova,P2744½–½2024Main Event4.7
Shuvalova,P2745Ju,W2771½–½2024Main Event4.8
Ju,W2770Shuvalova,P27461–02024Main Event4.9
Shuvalova,P2739Ju,W27770–12024Main Event4.10
Ju,W2784Shuvalova,P27321–02024Main Event4.11
Shuvalova,P2725Ju,W27911–02024Main Event4.12
Ju,W2782Shuvalova,P27340–12024Main Event4.13
Shuvalova,P2743Ju,W27730–12024Main Event4.14
Ju,W2780Shuvalova,P27360–12024Main Event4.15
Shuvalova,P2673Ju,W26720–12024Main Event4.16
Ju,W2680Shuvalova,P26651–02024Main Event4.17
Shuvalova,P2657Ju,W26881–02024Main Event4.18
Ju,W2679Shuvalova,P26660–12024Main Event4.19
Shuvalova,P2674Ju,W26710–12024Main Event4.20
Ju,W2679Shuvalova,P26661–02024Main Event4.21
Shuvalova,P2658Ju,W26871–02024Main Event4.22

Live webcast


In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.


Links


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.

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.