Women's World Championship: Match Point

After the first half of the match and a score of 4–2 in the favor of GM Ju Wenjun — the four-time defending FIDE Women’s World Champion — the players had two days off to travel to the new host city for the second half of the match. After starting in Ju’s home of Shanghai, the match moved roughly 1,000 miles to GM Tan Zhongyi’s home of Chongqing.

All photos courtesy of Anna Shtourman/FIDE

The players may have had two days “off,” but we all know how flights can affect one's habits. While many think being home could play an important role in feeling comfortable and maybe regaining confidence, others may feel even more pressure playing on their home turf.

With the stage set, let’s turn to our key takeaways from games 7 and 8, where Ju’s large lead grew larger. We’ll look at each game one at a time, as the lessons from the opening phase bleed into the lessons from the later phases.

Game 7

In game 7, Tan brought a new opening idea in game 7, as she played 2. ... Nc6 and allowed White to opt for the Rossolimo with 3. Bb5. The players seemed to be following recent high-profile games up until the following moment after 13. ... Bxd6.

Game 7: Position after 13. ... Bd6

Here, Ju played 14. Qh5, which seemed like an interesting idea at the time, but it proved unhelpful as the pressure on h2 remained. Soon after, Tan was able to win the h2-pawn. Instead, 14. g3 was essayed by Caruana, and it is known to lead to a playable position.

After Ju’s choice, a more unconventional position arose. What would you play for Black here?

Game 7: Position after 23. Nc5

In this position, reached after 23. Nc5, Tan chose to retreat with 23. ... Rb6, instead of the more aggressive 23. ... Be2.

This more active option would have also helped maintain her rook’s position while preparing some ideas to attack White's king with … Qc7-e7-h4. Plus, after 24. Rxd8 Qxd8, White could not play 25. Qxb4?? (see following diagram). Can you see why?

Game 7: Analysis after 25. Qxb4??

25. Qxb4?? fails due to 25. ... Qh4+ 26. Kg1 Bd6 and, with the e-pawn pinned, only 27. g3 is possible, but that allows the typical 27. ... Bxg3 with mate to follow. White's best move would be 25. Kg1, but this would be the kind of position where Black could try to push and create chances.

Later in game 7, despite being down a pawn, Ju maintained the pressure and more active pieces. It is in the following position that Tan lost objectivity and tried to hold onto the c-pawn instead of letting it go.

Game 7: Position after 35. Kxf4

After 35. Kxf4, Black could have continued with 35. ... Kg7. This would have allowed 36. Rxc6, but that gives Black the opportunity to free up the light-squared bishop, which has been restricted ever since she chose not to play 23. … Be2.

Instead, Tan played 35. ... Bb7, which allowed the dominant 36. Bc5 trading Black's good bishop first followed by 37. Nxc5 and a dominant good-knight-and-rook-versus-bad-bishop-and-rook endgame. From there it was just a matter of time until Ju was able to win most of Black's pawns.

You can catch up with my annotations and follow through with the game from here on, though unfortunately for Tan, there wasn’t much counterplay she could have tried to get.

Takeaway: With the lead in the match, Ju’s decision to go “off script” relatively early in the game was bold, and it did not necessarily work in her favor. But while following theory might have been the safer choice, she did get chances to outplay her opponent in the unconventional position that arose. This occurred when Tan failed to keep her pieces active, perhaps over-estimating the value of her extra pawn.

Game 8

Game 8 brought a new opening for Tan as she chose to start with 1. e4 as opposed to the English. Considering the score of the match, the opening choice seemed designed to lead to a more aggressive game. However after 1. ... e5 she responded with 2. Nc3, very likely to avoid the Petrov, which is one of Ju's main weapons.

It is unclear to me if Tan was planning to go for a delayed Vienna with an eventual f2-f4, but the position resulting from the opening barely left Tan with any advantage. Ju calmly played 4. ... Bb4 and after a few more trades White's advantage was gone.

Game 8: Position after 4. d3

It is in the following position that maybe Tan could have tried finding some chances to press on the kingside after closing down the position with d4-d5, but Tan tried a positional approach, instead, bringing her knight to the queenside instead of the kingside.

Game 8: Position after 16. ... b5

This approach proved a bit too slow, as Ju seemed confident in her plans to support the … f7-f5 push, which she was able to make it work in good circumstances. What would you play in the below position with White: 25. Qd4 or 25. exf5? Considering that a pawn may be lost either way, would you give up the e4-pawn or the c2-pawn?

Game 8: Position after 24. ... f5

In the above diagram, 25. exf5 had to be played. After 25. ... Bxf5 26. Qd2 Rxe3 27. Rxe3 Rxe3 28. Qxe3 Bxc2 29. Qa7, White has some activity.

Instead, the game reached the following position. Can you find a beautiful way for Black to take the advantage?

Game 8: Position after 28. c4

Tan found 28. … e3!, which solidified her advantage, as I discuss more in my annotations.

Takeaways: Black seemed perfectly prepared for White’s unconventional way of playing an open game after 2. Nc3, neutralizing White’s chances as early as move four. The match pressure made it harder for Tan to keep her objectivity, as well, seeing her eschew lines that might have equalized to seek aggressive chances that were not at all justified from her position on the board.

Despite having a great start and showing, in my opinion, much better opening preparation, Tan has not been able to deliver in the latter part of several games. Finishing the first part of the match in Shanghai, trailing by two points must have put more pressure on Tan than she let the fans see in the post-game interviews. Once the match moved to Chongqing, I thought that being at home would help her find calmness and regain her confidence.

Instead, the need to win at all costs has proved fatal as she lost the first two games after the break. Now after eight games are in the books, the match is 6–2 for the defending champion, GM Ju Wenjun.

While Ju seems to have been out-prepared in the opening part, her combative style has helped her find creative ideas to surprise her opponent and pace herself to win game after game. Losing four games in a row must be difficult, but winning four in a row could also make one feel that the hardest work is behind her, making it tempting to go on “cruise control.”

What will the players bring in round 9? Will we see a winner in Ju, or will Tan give it all to stay in the match?

Read my annotations from games 7 and 8 in full below, and keep an eye out for my recap video from the first six games.