Women’s World Chess Championship 2025, Game 2: Tan Zhongyi stuns reigning champion Ju Wenjun with white, takes lead

Challenger GM Tan Zhongyi beat four-time defending champion GM Ju Wenjun in Game 2 to take 1.5-0.5 lead in the FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship 2025 in Shanghai on Friday.

Playing with white pieces, Tan went for the English opening (Four Knights Variation).

Ju collapsed in a rook endgame. She tried to fight after the time control had passed but Tan eventually won in 62 moves and almost five hours.

In Game 1, Tan had managed a comfortable 39-move draw against Ju.

The players will have their first rest day on Saturday.

In Game 3, Ju will play with white pieces. Game 3 starts on Sunday (April 6) at 12:30PM IST.

Tan earned the right to challenge her compatriot for the title by winning the Women’s Candidates tournament in April last year.

Tan and Ju had faced each other in the title clash in 2018 as well where Ju won the 10-game series with a scoreline of 5.5-4.5. Back then, Ju was the challenger while Tan was the defending champion.

The current edition follows a 12-game format. The first player to score 6.5 points will win the title.

The time control for each game is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

If the match is tied at 6-6 after all 12 games, a tiebreak will determine the champion. The tiebreak procedure involves a series of rapid and, if necessary, blitz games to ensure a decisive outcome.