The 2018 Women's World Chess Championship Match was a match held between

Tan Zhongyi Tan Zhongyi (; born 29 May 1991) is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of grandmaster (GM). She is a former Women's World Champion, winning the 2017 knockout edition of the world championship in Iran where she defeated Anna Muzychuk i ...

, the 2017 Women's World Chess champion, and her challenger

Ju Wenjun Ju Wenjun (; born 31 January 1991) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the reigning five-time Women's World Champion, the reigning Women's World Blitz Chess Champion, and a two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In March 2017, she be ...

FIDE General Assembly Agenda
(5.20.8) to determine the new women's world chess champion. Ju Wenjun qualified by winning the

FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16 The FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16 was a series of five chess tournaments exclusively for women, which determined one player to play in the Women's World Chess Championship Match 2018, a 10-game match against the knockout world champion. This w ...

. The match took place from 2 to 20 May 2018 and was played in two halves, the first in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, the latter in

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

. Ju Wenjun won 5½–4½.

Competitors

2015–16 Grand Prix winner

The challenger qualified by winning the

. Hou Yifan had won the first tournament but then withdrew from the Grand Prix. After four of five tournaments, the leader was

Koneru Humpy Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Humpy is a runner-up of the Women's World Chess Championship and the reigning two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In 2002, she became the youngest female player--and ...

with 335 points, who had already played her three tournaments. In second place followed

with 253⅓ and one event left. The final tournament was held from 11 to 31 October 2016, and

won the tournament convincingly, thus overtaking Koneru Humpy. Koneru Humpy thereby finished overall runner-up for the fourth time.

2017 knock-out world champion

The winner of the

Women's World Chess Championship 2017 The Women's World Chess Championship 2017 was a 64-player knock-out tournament, to decide the women's world chess champion. The final was won by Tan Zhongyi over Anna Muzychuk in the rapid tie-breaks. At the FIDE General Assembly during the 42nd ...

has the right to defend her title in the match. The 64-player knockout tournament was initially scheduled for October 2016, but postponed due to the lack of an organizer. The tournament was played in Tehran, Iran, from 10 to 28 February 2017. Ju Wenjun advanced to the quarter-finals, where she was knocked out. Had she won, the challenger would have been the Grand Prix runner-up

. The final was played between

and

Anna Muzychuk Anna Olehivna Muzychuk (; ; born 28 February 1990) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a FIDE rating of at least 2600. She has been ranked as high as No. 197 in the wo ...

as a four-game match. After a calm draw in game 1, Tan Zhongyi won game 2 with the white pieces.

Head-to-head record

Prior to the match the two players had met 16 times at classical time control. Tan Zhongyi led the pairing, having won 3, drawn 11, and lost 2 games.

Match

The match was contested over ten games at classical time control, with additional rapid and blitz tie-breaks if needed. Colors were drawn at the opening ceremony. Colors are also reversed after game 4 to even out any advantage of first playing White. The time control is set at 90 minutes for the first 40 moves with the addition of 30 minutes for the rest of the game. There is an

increment Increment or incremental may refer to: *Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) * Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming * Incremental computing * Incremental backup ...

of 30 seconds per move from move 1.

Schedule

;Shanghai *Opening ceremony: May 2 (Draw of Colors) *Game 1: May 3 *Game 2: May 4 *Game 3: May 6 *Game 4: May 7 *Game 5: May 9 ;Chongqing *Game 6: May 12 *Game 7: May 13 *Game 8: May 15 *Game 9: May 16 *Game 10: May 18 *Closing ceremony: May 19

Results

Future

Due to various hosting and timing issues, the championships had varied from their intended annual calendar, pushing the 2017 event into early 2018. FIDE returned to schedule by holding a second

Women's World Chess Championship 2018 (tournament) The Women's World Chess Championship 2018 was a knock-out tournament to crown a new women's world champion in chess. It was the second world championship held in 2018, after Ju Wenjun had defeated Tan Zhongyi to win the title in May 2018. The to ...

, with the full 64-player knock-out in November, culminating with the final two players competing for the championship title. The event was held in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

, Russia. Ju Wenjun entered the tournament as top rated player and won the event.

References

External links

Official websiteMatch regulations
{{World championships in 2018 Women's World Chess Championships 2018 in chess 2018 in Chinese sport Chess in China International sports competitions hosted by China Sports competitions in Shanghai Sport in Chongqing May 2018 sports events in China 2018 in women's sport