Ju Wenjun

Ju Wenjun (Chinese: 居文君; pinyin: Jū Wénjūn; born 31 January 1991)[1] is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the current Women's World Chess Champion and became the fifth woman to cross the 2600 barrier in March 2017. Ju Wenjun won 3 consecutive Women's World Chess Championships held between 2018 and 2020.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Ju.
Ju Wenjun
Ju Wenjun at the 2016 Chess Olympiad.
CountryChina
Born (1991-01-31) 31 January 1991
Shanghai
TitleGrandmaster (2014)
FIDE rating2560 (February 2021)
(No. 2 ranked woman in the May 2019 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating2604 (March 2017)
Medal record
Representing  China
Summer Universiade
2013 KazanMixed team
2013 KazanWomen's individual
Asian Games
2010 GuangzhouWomen's Team

Career

In December 2004, Ju Wenjun placed third in the Asian Women's Chess Championship in Beirut.[2] This result qualified her to play in her first Women's World Chess Championship in 2006. She competed in this event also in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017.

She won the Women's Chinese Chess Championship in 2010 and 2014.[3] In July 2011 she won the Hangzhou Women Grandmaster Chess Tournament undefeated with a score of 6½/9 points, ahead of reigning women's world champion Hou Yifan.[4] In October 2011 she took the second place at the Nalchik stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011–12 with 7/11, ranked only after her compatriot Zhao Xue; her performance was enough to acquire her third and final norm required for the Grandmaster title.[5] However, one of the three norms was missing the signature of the arbiter, disqualifying her for consideration for the title.[6]

From June 18 to July 2, 2014 in the 5th stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14 held in Lopota, Georgia she finished jointly second with Elina Danielian and a 7/11 score. This marks her fourth GM norm. In the 6th stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14 held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, from August 24 to September 7, 2014 she placed joint first with Hou Yifan with a score of 8.5/11, winning the event thanks to a better tiebreak score.[6]

In November 2014, FIDE awarded her the GM title in the 4th quarter Presidential Board meeting in Sochi, Russia.[7] With six GM norms, including three norms from the Women's Grand Prix (1 from each series), she is now a fully fledged grandmaster, China's 31st grandmaster and the 31st woman to hold the title. Also in 2014, she tied for first with Lei Tingjie in the 4th China Women Masters Tournament in Wuxi.[8]

In February 2016, Ju Wenjun won the Tehran leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16. By also winning the last tournament of the Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, she finished first in the overall standings and earned the challenger spot in the Women's World Chess Championship Match 2018,[9][10] which she won. Several months later, in the Women's World Chess Championship Tournament of November 2018, Ju defended the women's world chess champion title.[11] In December 2017, Ju won the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship in Riyadh,[12] and won in the same championship held in St. Petersburg in December 2018,[13] scoring 11½/15 (+8=7)[14] and 10/12 (+8=4),[15] respectively.

In January 2020, Ju successfully defended the women's world chess champion title against Aleksandra Goryachkina in the Women's World Chess Championship 2020. She won with the score of 2.5–1.5 in the tiebreaker after having equalized the regular matches 6–6.

Team events

Ju Wenjun has played for the Chinese national women's team since 2008. Her team has won the gold medal in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in 2016, Women's World Team Chess Championship in 2009 and 2011, Women's Asian Nations Chess Cup in 2012, 2014 and 2016, gold medal in the Olympiad at 2018, and 2010 Asian Games.

In 2013, she won the silver medal with team Shanghai in the Asian Cities Chess Championship in Dubai.

She plays for the Shanghai chess club in the China Chess League (CCL).[16]

References
  1. WGM title application. FIDE.
  2. "TWIC 529: Asian Women's Championship". The Week in Chess. 2004-12-27.
  3. Ramirez, Alejandro (2014-03-29). "Yu Yangyi & Ju Wenjun Chinese Champs". ChessBase. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  4. Liang, Ziming (2011-07-26). "1st Hangzhou WGM Tournament – Ju Wenjun wins, Harika becomes GM". ChessBase. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  5. "Title Applications – 4th quarter Presidential Board Meeting, 7–10 November 2014, Sochi, RUS". FIDE. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  6. Niklesh Kumar Jain (2014-09-14). "Sharjah Grand Prix winner Ju Wenjun". ChessBase. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  7. "List of titles approved by the 4th quarter PB 2014". FIDE.
  8. "Lei Ting jie wins China Women Master". News About Chess. 2014-05-15. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  9. "Ju Wenjun is triumphant in Khanty-Mansiysk". FIDE. 1 December 2016.
  10. Schulz, André (2016-12-05). "Ju Wenjun wins Grand Prix series". ChessBase. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  11. Houska, Jovanka (24 November 2018). "Ju Wenjun Beats Lagno In Playoff, Wins Women's World Chess Championship". Chess.com. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  12. "Viswanathan Anand and Ju Wenjun are World Rapid Champions!". Chessdom. 2017-12-28. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  13. ChessBase staff (28 December 2018). "FIDE World Rapid Champions: Dubov and Ju". ChessBase. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  14. "King Salman World Rapid Championship 2017 Women". chess-results.com. 28 December 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  15. "King Salman World Rapid Championship 2018 Women". chess-results.com. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2011-10-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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