Bengaluru: After 38 strikes in Sport 9, Ju Wenjun checked her scoresheet for a number of seconds earlier than stopping the clock, claiming a draw by way of three-fold repetition, shaking her opponent’s hand, and strolling away with an inscrutable expression – as if nothing had occurred.
Ju Wenjun received her fifth world crown. (FIDE)
The 34-year-old Chinese language Grandmaster had simply grow to be the ladies’s world chess champion for the fifth time. The primary Chinese language and solely the fourth lady in historical past to take action – after Vera Menchik, Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze.
Although she fell behind in Sport 2 in opposition to fellow Chinese language Tan Zhongyi, the match finally changed into a blowout, with Ju reeling off 4 consecutive wins. Heading into Wednesday’s sport, Tan had the onerous process of profitable 4 video games in a row to have the ability to drive tiebreaks. Whereas all Ju wanted was a draw. She retained her title 6.5-2.5 with three video games to spare.
The title match, held throughout two Chinese language cities—Shanghai and Chongqing, Ju and Tan’s hometowns respectively—noticed each gamers select starkly totally different chairs. Whereas Ju opted for a big swivel chair, Tan picked an everyday, upholstered picket one. Ju towered over Tan – each visibly throughout the board and in her gameplay.
In 2018, it was a win over Tan that noticed Ju grow to be girls’s world champion for the primary time. Tan certified for this 12 months’s match after a spectacular win on the Candidates however as Ju put it, she “underperformed” on this encounter. The way in which the match unfolded after Tan took an early lead—with Ju flattening her challenger like Godzilla did Tokyo—is a testomony to the now five-time girls’s world champion’s class. “I was playing more and more in the zone,” she mentioned after her win.
Together with her distinctive positional understanding and endgame mastery, Ju has been among the many most formidable feminine chess gamers for some time now. She’s additionally the reigning girls’s world blitz champion and a two-time girls’s world fast champion. Bringing her very good endgame method to bear, Ju pulled off the largest win of her profession on the Tata Metal Chess event in January final 12 months, defeating then-world No 6 Alireza Firouzja. It was her first-ever victory in opposition to a 2750 Elo participant. She drew in opposition to each Ding Liren and Gukesh in the identical event.
“Perhaps my playing style is connected to my upbringing in some way – I’m more solid and comparatively, not as aggressive,” she mentioned. Ju grew up within the fast-paced metropolis of Shanghai, a world monetary hub, and is just one of six feminine gamers to cross the 2600 Elo barrier. At present, she’s the highest-rated energetic feminine participant at 2580.1 (world No 1 Hou Yifan although rated increased is essentially inactive).
“An amazing trait of Ju is her mentality,” Indian GM P Harikrishna, who was a part of Ju’s 2023 World Championship crew, informed HT, “Even when she was missing chances and trailing against Lei (Tingjie), she didn’t doubt herself. She just turned up for the games like nothing had happened.”
It wasn’t the only occasion. Within the 2018 match she beat Kateryna Lagno on demand with Black to drive a playoff, within the 2020 match, needing solely a draw in opposition to Aleksandra Goryachkina she misplaced and went on to defend her title in a playoff.
This time round, Ju’s crew comprised GMs Ni Hua – who was additionally Ding’s second for his match in opposition to Gukesh final 12 months, and Russian, Maxim Matlakov.
“She has complete faith in her team. It gives you a lot of confidence as a second,” Harikrishna says. “We had discussed several opening ideas for one of the earlier games during the 2023 match and somehow, they didn’t happen. We rechecked the ideas for Game 12 and they seemed a bit risky especially with match scores tied. But she took a bold call and said ‘I’m going for it’.”
Within the run-up to the 2023 match, Harikrishna couldn’t journey to China (he accompanied her for the match) due to the pandemic, so that they did distant work on-line.
“I was playing an event, so I would wake up really early for sessions with Ju. She could tell it was a struggle for me and suggested I get some sleep and that we push the sessions. The whole experience —working with someone so focused, determined, mentally unshakeable, and always eager to learn left an imprint on me. Off the board, she’s fun-loving, and excellent at finding the best places to eat out. It’s one of her superpowers.”