The Women’s World Chess Championship Match between current world champion Tan Zhongyi and the champion of women grand prix Ju Wenjun will start in May. The first part of 2018 Chinese league becomes the drill for the coming championship match .


photo by: Gu Xiaobing

In this part of league, Tan Zhongyi scored 3 in 4 rounds, feeling that she was in “normal state, but not rather good”. According to Tan Zhongyi, out of various causes, she does not participate in any classic tournament since the end of last year but she's been training since then. She jokingly says that she does not even feel nervous about the match since she is too familiar with Ju Wenjun. She just wants to remedy her own deficiency , hoping to improve chess play and reach a new level in mind throughout the championship match.

Ju Wenjun gained 3 points in four rounds. she also considered that she played in average. “I have made some relatively apparent mistakes in the match and need further improvement”.


photo by: Gu Xiaobing

As for the future match, she expected to carry out an brilliant performance playing with Tan Zhongyi in their best . This is the first time for her to join in this kind of match. It is a brand- new challenge to her. “No matter who wins, China is always the winner. It accordingly reduces our pressures to some extent and makes us more concentrative in the match.”

The match consisting of 10 games will start on May 2nd. The first half of the match will be held in Shang Hai and the second half in Chong Qing. This is the third time for two Chinese players to join in the match in history. The first one was between Xie Jun and Qin Kanying in 2000. the second time is ten years later, then 16-year-old Hou Yifan defeated the teammate Ruan Lufei being the youngest Chess Queen in chess history.


Original Chinese report from CCA website by: Liu Yi