Women's WCC Game 8: Ju grabs fourth win in a row

by André Schulz
4/14/2025 – The Women's World Championship match is going very one-sidedly. Today, the defending champion Ju Wenjun won a fourth game in a row against challenger Tan Zhonqui, increasing her lead to 6-2. Ju Wenjun is now only half a point away from retaining the title, as match will most likely come to a premature end. | Pictured: Sabrina de San Vicente plays the first move of game eight. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
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A one-sided affair

Rarely has a Women's World Championship been so one-sided as this one, even though it featured Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi, the second- and third-ranked players in women's chess. The top-ranked Chinese player, Hou Yifan, has largely withdrawn from competitive chess.

Although Tan Zhongyi was the first to score a win in the battle for the Women's World Championship title, Ju Wenjun soon took the initiative and racked up victory after victory. In game three, Ju Wenjun levelled the score. After a draw in game four, the defending champion secured her fourth consecutive victory today.

Tan Zhongyi, playing with the white pieces, employed the Vienna Game in the opening. In the middlegame, Ju Wenjun gradually took control and transitioned into a clearly superior endgame with queen and bishop against queen and knight.

Tan Zhongyi played with the white pieces on Monday | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Tan 0 - 1 Ju

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Game eight underway | Photo: Anna Shtourman

All games

Women's World Chess Championship 2025

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Topics: Ju Wenjun, Women's World Championship 2025
André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
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See also

Women's WCC Game 7: Ju outplays Tan, gets three-point lead

4/13/2025 – Ju Wenjun moved closer to retaining her title by defeating Tan Zhongyi in game 7 of the 2025 Women's World Chess Championship, marking her third consecutive victory and extending her lead to 5–2. The match resumed in Chongqing, Tan's hometown, after the first six games were played in Shanghai. Although Tan gained an extra pawn in the middlegame, she mishandled the position, allowing Ju to take control. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
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See also

Women's WCC Game 3: Ju grinds out win, evens the score

4/6/2025 – In game 3 of the Women's World Chess Championship, Ju Wenjun levelled the score by defeating Tan Zhongyi with the white pieces. After choosing a positional sideline against the Sicilian Defence, Ju gradually built a small advantage that she carried into a rook and opposite-coloured bishop endgame. Although the position remained objectively balanced for some time, a mistake on move 60 allowed Ju to convert her extra pawn. The game lasted 87 moves and over five and a half hours. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.