Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi Trade Wins In Women's World Champs
Ju Wenjun beat Tan Zhongyi in the third game of the women's world championship, but today Tan struck back to keep the margin at one point: 2.5-1.5 for Ju.
It's been a bloody fight so far in Shanghai, with three of the four games ending decisively. After game three, which Tan lost without a real fight, things looked grim for her but then she came back the very next day.
Tan did not repeat her Queen's Gambit Accepted from game one, and played the Declined setup, which is more common for her. Ju went for the Catalan, and the position after 12.Rd1 had also appeared in an earlier game between these players, from five years ago.
In the variation that came on the board, Black didn't have time to castle and accurate play was needed. However, Tan's 14th move was just too reckless and in no time she was looking at a lost position.
At the press conference, Tan said: "I knew this variation, but somehow could not remember clearly (...) and this structure is not something I am familiar with. People make mistakes on things they are not good at."
Tan facing 19.Qh4+. | Photo: Gu Xiaobing/official website.
"I shouldn’t make a serious mistake like 14...g5. I neglected the simple plan of Qh5 and Ne4 for White, due to both technical and mental reasons."
Ju had expected 14...g6. She said she felt she was going to win after 16.Bxg5.
Ju increased her lead in game three. | Photo: Gu Xiaobing/official website.
That comfortable 2.5-0.5 lead for Ju was short-lived as she went down, as Black, on Monday. Suddenly the match wasn't so one-sided anymore.
In what was a Torre Attack, Tan went straight for a kingside attack that's typical for this opening. Black was holding on, but voluntarily trading knights was a bad decision by Ju. The queen sac at the end was a nice way to finish the game.
Game one in action. | Photo: Gu Xiaobing/official website.
One more game will be played in Shanghai, on May 9. The next five games will be played in Chongqing on May 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18.
The prize fund of the match is €200,000 ($238,451) with 60 percent going to the winner and 40 percent of the loser. In case of a tiebreak, the money will be split 55-45 percent.
Games via TWIC.
Previous report:
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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