FIDE Women's World Chess Championship Preview

The 2025 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) begins Thursday, April 3 in Shanghai, China. The 12-game match is a clash between four-time reigning champion GM Ju Wenjun and former champion GM Tan Zhongyi. 

Tan became world champion in 2017 by defeating GM Anna Muzychuk in the knockout final. At the time, the WWCC format alternated between knockout and match formats, and Tan's first match as reigning champion was against none other than Ju, later that year. Ju won the match 5½–4½ and has been the incumbent champion ever since. Tan won the 2024 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament (read CLO coverage of the event here) to earn her first chance to regain her title. 

For this match, Chess Life Online is pleased to announce that WGM Sabina Foisor will be providing day-of annotations for each round. She will also be sharing video recaps throughout the match. Learn more in her preview:

Follow along with WGM Foisor's analysis with this study of the four key positions highlighted in her video recap. Each chapter links to the timestamp in the video where she begins discussing the corresponding position. The first position is shared below:

The first six rounds of the match take place in Shanghai before moving to Chongqing for the second half of the match. The first game takes place on April 3, with rest days following every second game. After the sixth round, on April 10, play pauses for two days as the match relocates, resuming on Sunday, April 13. All games begin at 3:00 p.m. local time, which is 12 hours ahead of EDT. 

The full schedule is available here, and games can be followed live with commentary on the official website. Follow US Chess on X and YouTube to stay up-to-date on coverage. 

All annotations will be available in this study, beginning with game 1, shared below: