Women’s World Championship Game 2 is drawn
Ju Wenjun, who is a d4 player, surprised her opponent with e4 as the first move in their match number 2. In the ensuing Berlin variation of the Spanish Opening, Aleksandra Goryachkina achieved a comfortable position after producing a novelty 12…….c6.
The players agreed to a draw on move number 40 perhaps feeling the effects of yesterday’s Match 1 which was a marathon 97 move game.
The players will enjoy tomorrow as a rest day. Aleksandra Goryachkina will have the White pieces when the match resumes on 8th January.
Zhao Guangsheng, Deputy General Director of Shanghai Sports Ministry, together with the Grandmaster Nigel Short, FIDE Vice-President, made the first symbolic move of Game 2.
Ju Wenjun v Aleksandra Goryachkina
Ju Wenjun – an autobiography
Ju Wenjun was born in 1991 in Shanghai. She started playing chess in primary school in 1998. She continues to reside in her home city and represents the Shanghai Chess Club in the China Chess League.
Ju is the current Women’s World Chess Champion, a title she holds from 2018. She won the title when she defeated Tan Zhongyi in ten match event. She is China’s sixth female world champion.
In 2004, Ju earned a bronze medal in the Asian Women’s Championship, which qualified her to play in her first Women’s World Championship Tournament in 2006.
She regularly took part in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix tournaments, increasing her rating and earning Grandmaster norms. She was second in the October 2011 tournament, held in Nalchik, Russia, with a score of 7/11 points. With the same score, she finished second in the June 2014 tournament held in Georgia. Two months later, in August, she won—with 8.5/11 points—the sixth stage of the same 2013-2014 Grand Prix.
After winning two tournaments out of five events at the 2015-16 Grand Prix, Ju became the overall winner that year.
She was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 2014, becoming her country’s 31st Grandmaster.
Ju is a two-time Women’s Chinese Champion (2010, 2014).
Ju Wenjun has from 2008 played for the Chinese women’s national team, to win gold medals in the 2016 and 2018 Chess Olympiads. Other gold medals include the World’s Team Championships (2009, 2011), Asian Nations Cup (2012, 2014, 2016), and the 2010 Asian Games.
“Attack is the best defense,” Ju described her winning game strategy to children in her native Shanghai. “Try to be aggressive and create a challenge for your opponents.”
