Ju Wenjun Wins Women's World Championship

Ju Wenjun is the new women's world champion. She drew with reigning champion Tan Zhongyi in the final game of the women's world championship in Chongqing today to set the final score at 5.5-4.5.

It was a tense final game in a tense match. Tan needed to win with the black pieces, and chose a setup you might think was never played before in a world championship before: the Hippopotamus!

But in his annotations, Dejan Bojkov reminded us that Boris Spassky used a similar setup in his first match against Tigran Petrosian.

This time around, Tan didn't need to explain that she wanted a fight. However, the opening choice just backfired. Out of the opening, Ju got a big positional advantage and could play for a win without any risk. By move 24, Tan was busted.

The question why Ju didn't win this game is tough to answer without speaking to her. Was it nerves, or courtesy towards her opponent, with whom she is good friends? Perhaps it was the third, pragmatic reason: She was playing it safe throughout the game, and never risked the half-point.

Ju remained in full control, traded some pieces, traded some more and then reached a completely drawn bishop ending, which was enough to clinch the crown and become the 17th women's world champion in history. 

Sadly for her, there's a chance that Ju will become the women's world champion who held her title for the briefest period. This match took place later than was originally scheduled, and the next world championship, a knockout tournament, is scheduled for November.

It's hard not to have sympathy for Hou Yifan, the highest-rated female chess player, also from China, who stepped out of the world championship cycle in May 2016 after expressing her disappointment about the cycle.

Match score

The prize fund of the match was €200,000 ($239,210) with 60 percent going to the winner and 40 percent to the loser.

Women's World Champions

#	Fed	Name	Period	Country
1		Vera Menchik	1927–1944	Russia (in exile) / Czechoslovakia / England
2		Lyudmila Rudenko	1950–1953	Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR)
3		Elisaveta Bykova	1953–1956, 1958-1962	Soviet Union (Russian SFSR)
4		Olga Rubtsova	1956–1958	Soviet Union (Russian SFSR)
5		Nona Gaprindashvili	1962–1978	Soviet Union (Georgian SSR)
6		Maia Chiburdanidze	1978–1991	Soviet Union (Georgian SSR)
7		Xie Jun	1991–1996, 1999-2001	China
8		Susan Polgar	1996–1999	Hungary
9		Zhu Chen	2001–2004	China
10		Antoaneta Stefanova	2004–2006	Bulgaria
11		Xu Yuhua	2006–2008	China
12		Alexandra Kosteniuk	2008–2010	Russia
13		Hou Yifan	2010–2012, 2013-2015, 2016-2017	China
14		Anna Ushenina	2012–2013	Ukraine
15		Mariya Muzychuk	2015–2016	Ukraine
16		Tan Zhongyi	2017–2018	China
17		Ju Wenjun	2018–	China

Games via TWIC.

Previous reports:

• Tan Needs To Win Last Game In Women's World Champs
• Ju Leads Women's World Championship At Half
• Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi Trade Wins In Women's World Champs
• Ju Wenjun Takes Lead In Women's World Championship