All posts tagged: Ju Wenjun

Gukesh says he sometimes needs to wear face mask to leave home in Chennai to avoid being recognised | Chess News

Gukesh says he sometimes needs to wear face mask to leave home in Chennai to avoid being recognised | Chess News

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Over the last few months, fame has arrived like an uninvited house guest knocking on world champion Gukesh’s door. For a boy born and brought up in Chennai, these days, he occasionally needs to wear face masks to venture out of his house for fear of being recognised and mobbed. Or, the 18-year-old has to carry out a mental exercise in mapping out “safe places” that he can go out and still be himself. Such is the burden he bears as chess’ youngest world champion in history. “In India, especially in Chennai, when I go out, it was like I was getting recognised more than before. I’ve learned to go out with a mask and stuff. I’ve learned to deal with it, it’s been a few months, so it’s all good now. It depends on the place. Like when I want to go to some place, and it’s crowded, I wear a mask,” Gukesh told Norway Chess in an interview on Saturday before clarifying: “I don’t get recognized too much in all the places. So …

Equal prize money at Norway Chess inspires more women, says Ju Wenjun

Equal prize money at Norway Chess inspires more women, says Ju Wenjun

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As the clock ticks closer to Norway Chess Women 2025, the second edition of the prestigious tournament, defending champion Ju Wenjun shared her excitement and expectations ahead of the event, scheduled to take place from May 26 to June 6 2025 at Finansparken (SR-Bank) in Stavanger City, Norway. “I’m thrilled and excited to play in Norway Chess Women 2025. This will be my second time competing in the event. We have some very strong chess players and opponents this time. I think people are also more familiar now with the Armageddon and the time control format, so I feel the tournament will be even more exciting,” the Chinese Grandmaster shared as she gears up for the tournament. Wenjun, the undisputed queen of chess, clinched her historic fifth consecutive World Championship title earlier this year. Having started playing chess at the age of seven, she turned professional in 2004, earned her Grandmaster title in 2014, and won her first World Championship in 2018. Since then, she has remained unbeaten in women’s classical chess. She is also …

Ju Wenjun brushes aside Tan Zhongyi’s challenge to retain FIDE Women’s World Championship crown

Ju Wenjun brushes aside Tan Zhongyi’s challenge to retain FIDE Women’s World Championship crown

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Ju Wenjun remains the women’s chess champion of the world after defeating compatriot Tan Zhongyi in just nine games of the FIDE Women’s World Championship to retain the crown. In the contest, Tan had initially raced into the lead by winning a game, Game 2, but then Ju went on a four-game winning streak immediately afterwards to enter the ninth game of the Women’s World Championship 2025 needing just a draw. The 2025 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship match between Ju and Tan was supposed to follow a 12-game format with the first player to score 6.5 points will be declared the winner. Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi during the Women’s World Chess Championship Game 8. (Anna Shtourman/FIDE) Who is Ju Wenjun? Ju Wenjun had defied the same opponent, Tan Zhongyi, in May 2018 to claim her first world championship crown. That was her seventh attempt at the Women’s World Championship. Since then, she has defended her crown four times. In March 2017, Ju Wenjun became only the fifth woman to cross the 2600 rating …

Ju Wenjun levels score with endgame magic

Ju Wenjun levels score with endgame magic

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After a battle that lasted over five hours and spanned 87 moves, World Champion Ju Wenjun managed to win game 3 and draw level in the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship match against compatriot Tan Zhongyi. Both Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi have worn the women’s world championship crown previously, but they were not the only women’s world champions present in the playing hall on Sunday! Former world champions Zhu Chen and Xu Yuhua, the second and third women’s world champions from China, were also in attendance to make the ceremonial first moves. Chen is the current FIDE Secretary while Yuhua is the Secretary General of the Chinese Chess Association. Sunday’s result means that the score in the Women’s World Chess Championship stands at 1.5-1.5 after three games. How game 3 played out In game 2, Ju Wenjun had committed an endgame blunder to allow Tan to take a 1.5-0.5 lead. Story continues below this ad Game 3 featured a repeat of the first game’s Sicilian, where the World Champion introduced 3.c4, the Kramnik …

FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship all you need to know as Ju Wenjun battles Tan Zhongyi

FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship all you need to know as Ju Wenjun battles Tan Zhongyi

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It will be an all-China affair as reigning women’s world champion Ju Wenjun takes on challenger Tan Zhongyi for the fate of the Women’s World Chess Championship. China are the dominant force in women’s chess: the Asian giants hold the record for the most Women’s World Champions (six, one more than USSR’s five). Here’s all you need to know about the FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship match between Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi clash: Format of FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship The 2025 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship will be played in a 12-game format with the first player to score 6.5 points being declared the winner. Ju Wenjun will play the first game with white. The event will be played in two cities in China, starting with the first six games in Shanghai and then moving to Chongqing. Story continues below this ad Shanghai is the hometown of Ju Wenjun. Chongqing is Tan Zhongyi’s hometown. Time control The time control for each game is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 …

Sleepless, winless but finally fearless: Koneru Humpy describes her World title rollercoaster | Chess News

Sleepless, winless but finally fearless: Koneru Humpy describes her World title rollercoaster | Chess News

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A Rapid world champion in 2019, Koneru Humpy had contemplated retiring before she went on to pick the 2024 title at Wall Street in New York on Saturday. She battled despairing results before turning it around right when it mattered. Humpy told PTI it had been a tough leadup. “In 2019, I was quite ambitious, waiting to win my first title. But this time it was different because since the start of the year, I didn’t do well in any of the tournaments. In fact, I was placed last in the last two tournaments. In reality, I was in a low state, I even thought to myself if I deserved to continue playing or not, whether it was time to retire,” she was quoted as saying after emerging the champion. The 37-year-old Humpy finished the tournament with 8.5 out of 11 points, and became only second woman since China’s Ju Wenjun to clinch the title more than once. “I’m very excited and I feel very happy. In fact, I expected it to be a very …