Women’s World Championship Match 1 ends in a draw
Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina battled to a 97 move draw in their first encounter in Shanghai, China. A draw was agreed after 5½ hours of play.
Consul General of the Russian Federation in Shanghai, Mr Aleksandr Shmanevskiy, made the first move for Aleksandra. Mr Ye Jiangchuan, President of the Chinese Chess Association made the first move for black.

Aleksandra Goryachkina v Ju Wenjun

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Biography
Goryachkina was born in 1998 in Orsk, a city in the Urals, to a family of professional chess players. She has been living and training in Salekhard in Siberia.

She is a two-time Russian Women’s Champion (2015, 2017) and has dominated youth chess since the age of 10. Her impressive collection of gold medals includes two from the World Junior Girls Championship (2013, 2014). Other gold medals have come from the World Youth Championship for Girls Under 18 (2012), Under 14 (2011), and Under 10 (2008).
In European tournaments, Goryachkina has won gold medals in the European Youth Chess Championships as well. These include Girls U12 in 2010, U14 in 2011, and U18 in 2012. She won the silver medal at the Women’s European Individual Championship in 2017.
Russian Womens’ Superfinals Championship
After qualifying for the first time for the Russian Women’s Superfinal Championship in 2013, she scored 4.5/9. A year later, in 2014, she was third with a score of 5.5/9. Then, the following year, she was first with an impressive 8/11. In 2017 she won the Russian Women’s Superfinal for the second time scoring 7/11 points.
Russian National Women’s Team
When she was 15 years old, Goryachkina made her debut in the prestigious Russian national women’s team. She played on teh reserve board at the 2013 Women’s European Team Chess Championship.
At the 2015 Women’s World Team Championship, Goryachkina, scored 5/7 points and helped the Russian team win another silver medal. She won individual silver on fourth board. That same year, Russia won the gold medal at the Women’s European Team Championship, while Goryachkina also won the individual gold on board three.
Goryachkina contributed to Russia winning the 2017 Women’s World Team Championship, and to the second-place finish at the 2019 Championship. At the same event, she also won an individual gold medal with an impressive 8/9 score.
Goryachkina has represented Russia in the 2016 and the 2018 Chess Olympiad.
She became a Grandmaster in 2018—one of only 37 female players to hold this title.
Women’s World Chess Championships
Goryachkina took part in the Women’s World Chess Championships (64-player knockout tournaments) in 2015, 2017, and 2018. She was however knocked out in the second round each year.
After winning the 2019 Candidates Tournament scoring 9.5/14 Goryachkina, makes her long-expected ascent for challenging the current World Champion for the title.
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