Ju Wenjun scores clutch win, defends World Championship title

Four world-title victories

Two Chinese players have recorded the biggest successes in Women’s World Championship cycles since the turn of the century: Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun.

With her 6½-5½ victory over Lei Tingjie, Ju has triumphed in battles for the title no fewer than four times, much like Hou, who collected her four triumphs between 2010 and 2016. Despite having given up classical chess almost completely, Hou is still the highest-rated woman player in the world, but her leaving the Women’s World Championship cycle allowed for a new queen to ascend.

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1-6

In this Videocourse we deal with different aspects of the middlegame which are important to study and improve your general understanding of chess structures.

Ju is, in fact, the second-highest rated woman player in the world, as her 2568 live rating is a notch above that of Aleksandra Goryachkina, Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno and her last challenger, Lei Tingjie — all formidable players who have failed to outperform the 32-year-old from Shanghai.

The fact that Ju has already beat Tan Zhongyi, Goryachkina and now Lei speaks volumes about her ability to deal with high-pressure situations. The one time she won the title in a knockout tournament, back in 2018, she was trailing Lagno by a point going into the final classical game of their match — Ju won the game on demand and went on to outscore her opponent in playoffs. In 2020, she also beat Goryachkina in rapid tiebreakers, right after the Russian star had herself won game 12 on demand.

Now, in the all-Chinese confrontation against Lei, we got to see another match going down to the wire, with an exciting final classical game tipping the balance in the defending champion’s favour. Talk about entertainment value at the very highest level!

Lei Tingjie proved to be a remarkable challenger | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Clutch win

Game 12 was by no means a boring affair. Instead of signing a quick draw and taking the match to rapid playoffs (where the fact that there are more games lessens the damage provoked by single mistakes), the Chinese duo entered a double-edged opening variation.

With connected passers on the queenside for White, and Black having a strong pawn centre and the more solid structure, it seemed increasingly likely that the game would end decisively. Ju’s decision to get two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn (one of the dangerous passers) further sharpened the position.

The queens were already off the board when Lei erred strategically with 22...e5. From that point on, Ju showed her class and went on to get the 62-move win that allowed her to keep the women’s world champion crown!

Ju Wenjun2564

1–0

Lei Tingjie2554

WWCCM 2023 Chongqing22.07.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Guenther]

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.b4 a5 6.c3 axb4 7.cxb4 b6 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 10.a4 bxc5 11.b5

This is a well-known theoretical position that has often been played in grandmaster games. Two things can be said: There definitely are imbalances in the position, and the whole thing was initiated by White rather than Black. So presumably Ju Wenjun didn't necessarily want to end this game with a quick draw. 11...Qc7 12.Bb2 Bd6 13.0-0 0-0 14.Nbd2 Rfc8 15.Qc2 The rooks are connected on both sides. The game can now really get started. c4?! That doesn't seem like a good idea. The central pawn mass, which should ideally move forward, becomes rather static. Better was 15...e5! and if White doesn't want to see this pawn reaching e4, then she must now herself play 16.e4 when c4! is suddenly good after all, since the b2-bishop must not go to c3 here. 16.Bc3 This prevents c4-c3 and prepares a4-a5. Nc5 Now 16...e5 is not advantageous for Black since 17.a5 might follow. 17.a5 Nb3 18.Bxf6?! A questionable decision. 18.Ra2!± 18...Nxa1 19.Bxa1 Qxa5

At this point, Black stood better. 20.Qc3 Qxc3 Stronger was 20...Bf8 21.Rb1 f6 21.Bxc3 Rcb8 22.Nd4

22...e5?! A mistake. 22...Bc5= was useful here. 23.Nf5 Bf8 23...Bc7? 24.Ne7+ 24.Bxe5 Rxb5 25.g4

The once dangerous black pawn centre has been worn down and the remnants are a rigid formation that will hardly ever be able to advance. 25...g6 26.Nd4 Rb2?! Going for activity was not the best alternative here. After 26...Rb6! the game would not have been completely lost for Black. First of all, there is the "threat" of f7-f6. 27.Nb1! This knight wants to jump to c3 - and the jump cannot be prevented. Bg7? The game should be lost now. This bishop could perhaps still have played a certain role (e.g. from b4). 28.Bxg7 Kxg7 29.Nc3 It doesn't get any better than this: the white knights use the squares in front of the two pawns for their own purposes. Ra5 30.Rd1 Rb6 31.Nde2 Rb3 32.Kg2 h6 33.Kf3 f6 34.Rc1 Kf7 35.Nf4

White grabs Black's weakest pawn. 35...d4 36.exd4 g5 37.Nfe2 f5 38.gxf5 Rxf5+ 39.Ke3 g4 40.Nf4 Rb8 41.d5 Rf6 42.Rc2 Ra8 43.Nb5 Rb6 44.Nd4 Ra3+ 45.Ke4 c3 46.Nfe2 Rb2 47.Kd3 Rb1 48.Nxc3

The remnants of the black pawn centre became nothing but an object of attack. 48...Rh1 49.f3 gxf3 50.Nxf3 Rf1 51.Nd4 Ke7 52.Kc4 Rf4 53.Rb2 Rh4 54.Rb7+ Kf6 55.Rb2 Ra8 56.Kc5 Rh3 57.Ncb5 Re3 58.d6 Ke5 59.Nc6+ Ke4 60.d7 Rd3 61.Nd6+ Kf4 62.Rb8 1–0

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

Ju Wenjun took home this beautiful trophy | Photo: Stev Bonhage

All games

Links

• FIDE website
• Lei Tingjie convincingly wins the Women’s Candidates Final
• Ju Wenjun: An insider's view of the match for the Women's World Championship 2020