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Ju Wenjun Scores 4th Straight Win, Draw Away From Retaining Title
Ju Wenjun is on the brink of defending her crown. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

Ju Wenjun Scores 4th Straight Win, Draw Away From Retaining Title

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TarjeiJS
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GM Ju Wenjun claimed her fourth straight victory against GM Tan Zhongyi in game eight of the 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship. With a dominant 6-2 lead with just four games to go, she is on the brink of securing her fifth Women’s World Championship crown.

Ju can end the match with a draw in game nine on Wednesday, while Tan is faced with the near-impossible challenge of needing to win all four remaining games just to force tiebreaks.

With the white pieces on Monday, the challenger once again reached a playable position, but Ju gradually took control after breaking through with 24...f5!. Just five moves later, Ju reached a winning position. After exchanging queens, the outcome was no longer in doubt and Ju capped off the game in style, sacrificing her bishop to transition into a clearly winning endgame.

Game nine, with Ju playing with the white pieces, starts on Wednesday, April 16, at 3:00 a.m. ET / 09:00 CEST / 12:30 p.m. IST.

2025 Women's World Championship Match

Name Rating 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Score
  Tan Zhongyi 2555 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 . . . . 2
  Ju Wenjun 2561 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 . . . . 6

GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed game eight of the match below.

Trailing by three points with just five games to go, Tan was in an almost must-win situation with the white pieces, especially as she'd scored just half a point from her four games with Black.

Tan Zhongyi is facing
Tan Zhongyi is facing a "mission impossible" in the remaining four games of her match against Ju Wenjun. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

The game followed much of the pattern from the previous games in the match, with Tan reaching a playable position before eventually crumbling. This time, Tan surprised Ju by switching to 1.e4, having previously played 1.c4 in all three games with White.

A clock malfunction delayed the start of the game slightly.

It transposed to a well-known position in the Petroff Defense that was first seen more than 150 years ago!

At the press conference after her previous loss, Tan noted how the match situation affected her decisions on the board, both in terms of time managment, but also in selecting the more aggressive variations. She admitted that also played a role in this game, calling herself "a little bit stubborn."

"I thought I had a slight advantage after the opening. But after b4, I had some hesitation and I wasn't too sure how to play. I spent a lot of time, and after that move I didn't have any concrete plans," Tan said, with Ju agreeing:

"I thought I was slightly worse after the opening, but she played aggressively and the pawn on e4 might be weak and give me some opportunities."

The 2025 Women's World Championship could see its final game on Wednesday. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE
The 2025 Women's World Championship could see its final game on Wednesday. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

Tan's plan with 18.b4 followed by 19.Nb3 seemed dubious, and the trend was turning in Ju's favor when she followed up with 20.dxe5 and 22.Na5?. She realized that move was a mistake, admitting she forgot about Black's 24...f5! breakthrough.

"Everything is working beautifully for Ju Wenjun," Chess.com commentator IM Jovanka Houska said. "Now she is the one who is controlling the game," co-commentator IM Irene Sukandar agreed.

Engines started showing a winning advantage for Black after Ju played the excellent 28...e3!. 

From there on things went from bad to worse as Tan gambled by once again choosing the more aggressive option with 30.Qa7?.

The resulting endgame led to a position where Ju could virtually play risk-free and push for a win and, after reaching the time control on move 40, the result was never in doubt.

Tan did her best to keep the game alive for another hour, but Ju showed excellent technique in the endgame by sacrificing her knight to finish Black off.

It's a historic win for Ju, who has become the first player to win four games in a row in a Women's World Championship match in 67 years, according to Woman's Chess Coverage on X/Twitter.

Chess.com's commentators noted how the scoreline doesn't really reflect the standard of play by Tan, crediting Ju for her relentlessness: "She has grabbed every single opportunity that has been given to her."

She has grabbed every single opportunity that has been given to her.

—Jovanka Houska on Ju Wenjun

The nine-time British Women's Champion continued to praise the 34-year-old Women's World Champion, saying: "Ju Wenjun has been playing some incredible chess so far. She has been displaying a masterclass. The way that she began her roll in game five, then won in game six, all seems to be following this strategy of just getting a very comfortable position where she has a stronghold and then she will entice her opponent into making these complicated decisions forcing the nature of the play, and then it's the counterattack where Ju Wenjun is just excellent."

World number-18 GM Anish Giri also used the opportunity to praise the reigning champion, noting how things often go downhill when you fall behind.

It's hard to believe Tan can recover after her fourth straight loss, and her fifth in the match. She needs something of a miracle—winning every remaining game. The question from FIDE press officer WIM Charlize van Zyl on how she plans to deal with the situation, led to a grin on Tan's face.

"I will continue to play like normal. In this game I made some mistakes and my opponent didn't give me any opportunities."

I will continue to play like normal.

—Tan Zhongyi

Ju answered in a similar fashion, saying she will try not to think too much about the match. "I will try my best to be in the moment and to play my best, and not to think too much about the match."

Tuesday will be a rest day in Chongqing, possibly the last one in the match, before the action resumes on Wednesday.

  How to watch the 2025 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship
You can watch our 2025 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship broadcast on the Chess24 Twitch and YouTube channels. You can also find all the details here on our live events platform.

The broadcast was hosted by IMs Jovanka Houska and Irene Sukandar. 

The 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship is the most important women's over-the-board event of the year. The defending women's world champion, GM Ju Wenjun, faces the challenger, GM Tan Zhongyi, to see who will be crowned world champion. The championship started on April 3 in Shanghai and boasts a €500,000 ($540k) prize fund.

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