Women's World Championship, Round 1

A solid draw.

[This is a re-post. I accidentally uploaded an unannotated version of the game, so to make sure that subscribers actually get to see the game with my notes I’m re-sending it with the correct link.]

It wasn’t a riveting game, but it was well played and featured something other than the Giuoco Piano. No complaints here.

The champion, Ju Wenjun, had White in the first game and chose 1.e4, which challenger (and Ju’s predecessor as champion) Tan Zhongyi met with the Sicilian. It appeared to be headed for the Sicilian Four Knights, but Ju headed that off with the relatively unusual 5.Bd3. She didn’t get much, and her decisions on moves 15 and 21 allowed Tan full equality after 21…Rb8 22.b3 g4. From there the game quickly petered out to a draw, allowing both players to enjoy a safe, solid start to the match.

You can replay the game, with my analysis, here.