Women’s World Championship: Halftime reached, Ju plays it safe

by André Schulz
7/12/2023 – After losing game 5, Ju Wenjun took no risks in the last encounter of the Women’s World Chess Championship played in Shanghai. Ju’s approach with white led to a quiet endgame after an early exchange of queens. The game ended in a draw on move 48. The World Championship now moves to Chongquin, where it will resume on Saturday. | Photos: Stev Bonhage / FIDE
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Stabilizing

An old rule of the Soviet chess school suggests: “If you have lost a game, try to draw the next game in order to recover stability”. Defending women’s world chess champion Ju Wenjun had conceded defeat in the fifth game of her match against challenger Lei Tingjie, and apparently decided to follow the old Soviet rule the very next day.

The ceremonial first move in the sixth game of the FIDE Women’s World Championship was played by Zhang Yi, Director of the Youth Sports and Education Department of the Shanghai Sports Administration, and Ma Jiabin, Director of the Jing’an District of the Shanghai Sports Administration.

Like the games before, Ju Wenjun started pushing her d-pawn and was confronted with the Tarrasch Defence after an early exchange on d5. Ju’s 6.dxc5 is considered to be a bit more ambitious than the main variation with 6.g3, but the handling of the position by the defending champion showed little to no ambition.

On move 12 the queens were exchanged, which led to a completely symmetrical pawn position with little chances to create imbalances. The game lasted until move 48, but suspense was lacking throughout. In the end, only the kings and two knights were left on the board.

Like football in the past: the audience watches the game standing up

Lei’s narrow lead in this competition is deserved, as the 28-year-old challenger obtained slight advantages in most of the games, even though she could only score in the fifth game. Before the match, the two players were ranked second (Ju Wenjun) and fourth (Lei Tingjie) in the world rankings. With Lei’s victory in the fifth game, the situation changed somewhat. The live ratings list now sees Lei in second place behind Hou Yifan, one point ahead of Ju Wenjun.

The competition was set to take place in the hometowns of the two Chinese players. The first half was played in a hotel in Shanghai, Ju’s hometown, while tomorrow the World Championship moves to Lei's hometown, Chongqing. The administrative district of the city of Chongqing, which lies inland on the Yangtze River, is about the size of Austria and includes about 550 large municipalities, with a total population of 32 million people.

There will be another rest day on Friday before game 7 is played on Saturday.

Lei Tingjie
2554
½
½
½
½
1
½
3.5
Ju Wenjun
2564
½
½
½
½
0
½
2.5

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1.Nf3 3 d5 22 2.e3 8 c5 25 3.b3 14 Nc6 23 4.Bb2 8 a6 19 5.g3 28 Qc7 4:45
6.d4N 19:28 A06: Réti Opening: 1 Nf3 d5. Predecessor: 6.c4 dxc4 7.bxc4 Nf6 8.Nc3 e6 9.Bg2 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qe2 b6 12.d4 cxd4 13.exd4 1-0 Jones,G (2670)-Petrosyan,M (2628) EU-ch Final Online 2020 (2.2) 6...cxd4 3:57 7.exd4 3 Bg4 5:08 8.Bg2 4:58 The position is equal. e6 25 9.0-0 1:10 Nf6 1:39 10.Nbd2 3:21 Bd6 14:51 11.c4 1:08 0-0 33 12.a3 5:32 a5 10:09 13.h3 2:44 Bh5 12 14.Qe2 10:09 Rfd8 3:22 15.Rac1 5:01 dxc4 4:56 16.bxc4 8:05 Be7 48 17.Qe3 22 Rac8 5:01 18.Rfe1 39 Bg6 3:22 19.Qb3 1:44 19.d5!? exd5 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.cxd5 Rxd5 22.Rxc6       Remove Defender bxc6 23.Qxe7 19...Qb8 6:30 20.c5 2:36 Nd5 4:49 21.Nc4 5 Repels b6 a4 6:07       Decoy 22.Qxa4 9:29 b5 6 23.cxb6 2 Nxb6 4 24.Nxb6 3 Qxb6 5 25.Ba1 20 Qa5 8:07 26.Qxa5 11 Nxa5 4 27.Rxc8 3 Rxc8 4 28.d5 2 Nb3 6:00 29.dxe6 15 fxe6 2:21 30.Be5 2:24 Bxa3 3:29 30...h6 31.Re3± 53 Bc2 3:23 32.Nd4 17:04 32.Ne1 Bd1 33.Rd3 32...Nxd4 7 33.Rxa3 2 Nc6 47 34.Bxc6 50 Rxc6 4       Endgame KRB-KRB 35.Ra8+ 3 Kf7 5 36.Ra7+ 2 Ke8 42 37.Rxg7 20 White is more active. Kf8 3:46 38.g4 1:25 Rc5 30 39.Bf6 23 Be4 41 40.Kh2 0 40.f3 Bxf3 41.Rxh7 40...Rb5 0 Better is 40...h5 41.Re7 3:02 41.f3 Bxf3 42.Rxh7 41...Rb6 5:22 42.h4 4:25 Rb3 18:35 42...Rb2± 43.Kg3 Rb3+ 44.Kf4 Rb4 43.Rxe6+- 6:50 Bf3 4 44.g5 33 Bg4 3:49 45.Re7 12 Bf5 19 46.Kg2 3:08 Bh3+? 57 46...Bg6 47.f3 Rb1 47.Kg1 26 Bf5 6
48.h5! 5:19       Rh3 5 49.h6 3 Rd3 20 50.Kh2 1:09 Rh3+ 4:14 51.Kg2 5 Rd3 7 52.f3 4:35       Rd7 10 53.Re5 2 Bc2 1:13 54.f4 2:57 Rd5 12 55.Re7 3 Less strong is 55.Rxd5 Be4+ 56.Kg3 Bxd5+- Not 55.Bg7+ Kf7 56.Rxd5 56.g6+ Kxg6 57.Kf3 Bd1+ 58.Ke4 Rxe5+ 59.fxe5 Bb3= 56...Be4+ 57.Kg3 Bxd5+- 55...Bf5 1:35 56.Kf2? 6 56.Ra7+- and the rest is easy. 56...Rd2+± 53 57.Ke3 1:17 Rd6 1:03       This move loses the game for Black. 57...Rd3+± is tougher. 58.Ke2 Rd4 58.Rc7+- 1:13 Hoping for Be7+. Rd3+ 5 59.Ke2 1:12 Threatens to win with Rc5. Rd5 4 Prevents Rc5. 60.Bc3 1:44 Rg7 is the strong threat. Ke8 42 61.Kf2 51 Kf8 1:13 62.Bb4+ 1:12 Ke8 15 63.Re7+ 1:30 Kd8 4 64.Rf7 4 Ke8 1:28 65.Rf8+ 1:54 Kd7 4 66.Bc3 1:07 Bg6 22 Wards off Rf7+ 66...Be4 67.Ke3 Bc2 67.Rg8 30 Rd6 46 68.Be5 1:02 Rd2+? 1:07 68...Ra6 69.Rg7+ Ke8 69.Kf3 1:03 Rd3+ 41 69...Bf5 70.g6       Promotion hxg6 70.Kg4 27 Threatening mate with Rxg6! Rd1 23
71.Rxg6! 31       Remove Defender, Promotion hxg6 4 72.h7 2 Weighted Error Value: White=0.14 (very precise) /Black=0.28 (precise) 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ju Wenjun2564Lei Tingjie25541–02023A06WWCCM 20238.1
Lei Tingjie2554Ju Wenjun2564½–½2023B45WWCCM 20239.1
Ju Wenjun2564Lei Tingjie2554½–½2023A13WWCCM 202310.1
Lei Tingjie2554Ju Wenjun2564½–½2023C55WWCCM 202311.1
Ju Wenjun2564Lei Tingjie25541–02023D04WWCCM 202312.1

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