FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2025
Welcome, my dear readers to this blog. The chess world is buzzing with anticipation as the prestigious FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2025 is underway. Forget your reality TV dramas and your viral cat videos (for a little while, at least). The real entertainment, the kind that exercises your brain cells instead of just numbing them, is unfolding right now.
The reigning world champion, the formidable Ju Wenjun, once again faces a determined challenge from fellow Chinese Grandmaster, Tan Zhongyi. Whether you're a seasoned grandmaster, a dedicated club player, or a curious newcomer to the world of competitive chess, we invite you to join us on this exciting journey as we witness history in the making. Let the games begin!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Women's World Chess Championship 2025 will take place in 2025 as a match between Ju Wenjun, the current champion, and Tan Zhongyi, the winner of the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. This is the third time both players have met in a world chess championship: Tan eliminated Ju on the way to winning the Women's World Chess Championship 2017 when the championship was decided in a knockout tournament, while Ju won the Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (May), defeating Tan 5½–4½ to claim the title.
The match will take place between 3 and 21 April 2025. It will be played to a best of 12 games, the first player to reach 6.5 points becomes the Women's World Champion. The prize fund for the FIDE Women's World Championship is 500,000 Euros (551,680 USD). If the match is won in classical chess, the winner receives 60% and the runner-up the remainder. If the match is won in tiebreaks, the winner receives 55% and the runner-up the remainder.
The 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship will take place across the two Chinese cities of Shanghai, Ju's hometown, and Chongqing, Tan's hometown.
GM Ju Wenjun is a Chinese grandmaster and the reigning Women’s Champion since May 2018, when she defeated GM Tan Zhongyi in a match. Ju has defended her title successfully three times: in a November 2018 tournament, a 2020 match against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, and a 2023 match against GM Lei Tingjie. In December 2024, Ju added World Blitz Champion to her resume, after having won the World Rapid Championship in 2017 and 2018.
GM Tan Zhongyi is a Chinese grandmaster who was the women’s world chess champion from 2017 to 2018. She won the most notable title in women’s chess by defeating GM Anna Muzychuk in rapid tiebreaks, but then lost the title in her 2018 match with GM Ju Wenjun. Six years later, Tan won the 2024 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament, and now has an opportunity to defeat Ju and regain the title of world champion.
The FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 was an eight-player chess tournament held to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. It was held from 3 April to 22 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada, alongside the Candidates Tournament 2024.
It was a double round-robin tournament. Tan Zhongyi won the tournament and will play in the Women's World Chess Championship match in 2025 against the current Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun.
The prize money was €24,000 for first place, €18,000 for second place, and €12,000 for third place (with players on the same number of points sharing prize money, irrespective of tie-breaks), plus €1,750 per half-point for every player, for a total prize pool of €250,000.
Tan Zhongyi led from start to finish to win the tournament. She was the only player who won in the first round (against Lei Tingjie), and when she won again in the second round, she built up a lead over her rivals. In the first half of the tournament Aleksandra Goryachinka kept pace with Tan, but Tan stayed half a point ahead. A momentous round 8 saw Lei - who had won in rounds 6 and 7 - win a third consecutive game against Tan. This led to a three-way tie for first.
However, Tan won again in round 9, while Goryachinka lost in round 10 to fall behind. By round 12, only Tan and Lei were still in with a realistic chance. When Lei lost to Vaishali in round 13, Tan was effectively champion. A draw in the final round gave Tan the tournament victory, with a 1.5-point margin.
Let's now dive into the Game 1 of Women's World Chess Championship 2025:
According to the chess engine, Ju Wenjun, with the white pieces, played with an accuracy of 99.2, whereas Tan Zhongyi, with the black pieces, played with an accuracy of 99.4, but the game fizzled into a draw. The game showed the Normal line of Sicillian defense. The biggest challenge was, in fact, the rule banning draw offers before move 40, so that the game could only finish on move 39 after a three-fold repetition of the position. In the end, however, any danger was looked over by the fact that both players were clearly very happy to get into the match with a draw. Ju had the chance to play a more complicated position, but opted not to take too much risk. Ju called it "a very reasonable result," while Tan had absolutely no problem making a comfortable draw with Black to start her attempt to claw back the crown.
Let's now see the game 2 of FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2025:
GM Tan Zhongyi, with the white pieces in this game, has taken a 1.5-0.5 lead in the 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship after World Champion GM Ju Wenjun, playing black here, collapsed in a rook endgame that seemed headed for an inevitable draw. According to the chess engine, Ju Wenjun, with the black pieces, played with an accuracy of 91.3, whereas Tan Zhongyi, with the white pieces, played with an accuracy of 96.6, the reason for her victory.
In her first game with the White pieces, Tan played the English Opening, but achieved no more than a symbolic (albeit risk-free) advantage. Ju fought on after the time control had passed, but Tan made no mistake and won in 62 moves and almost five hours. Tan showed excellent technique to convert smoothly. The players now have their first rest day, with 10 games still remaining for Ju to hit back.
Tan's only real advantage was on the clock, but it didn't feel critical until 38...Rf5? was a clear step in the wrong direction by Ju. The position was still objectively drawn, but 40...Ke8?, the last move before 30 minutes was added to Ju's clock, was losing.
So, my dear readers, we have reached the end of the blog. What a rollercoaster of strategic brilliance, unexpected blunders, and mental strength we have witnessed over the two games. But remember, the dust has not settled on the intense battleground of the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. There are still ten more rounds, which will unfold their destiny. Will Ju Wenjun be able to defend her title? Will Tan Zhongyi make the history by becoming the 18th women world champion? At the end, who will behold the mighty crown on her head? The battle will continue.
According to you, who will be the world champion between the two grandmasters? Don't forget to share your opinions about the blog in the comments, it means a lot.
Thanks for reading!
See you in the next blog. Till then goodbye, keep playing and stay happy!
