Women's World Championship Starts Wednesday

Ju Wenjun defends her title vs. Tan Zhongyi

Now that the joke’s out of my system (not to be confused with the jokes in My System), let’s get to actual chess news and content. It’s not Magnus Carlsen returning to the fray, but it is an actual World Chess Championship match for the women. Ju Wenjun, who has held the women’s title for the past seven years, will defend her title against Tan Zhongyi, who was also her predecessor.

It’s a best-of-12 game classical match (90’+30” for the first 40 moves, then 30’+30” for the rest) played in Shanghai and Chongqing, China, nominally scheduled for April 1-23 but just April 3-21 as a maximum if we only count days where they’ll play.

It should be an interesting match, even if it’s not a battle of 2800s - or maybe, especially because it’s not a battle of 2800s. They’re both strong and combative GMs, but the match is more likely than an ordinary contest between two GMs of their ratings because of the immense amount of theoretical preparation that goes into such an event. So even if you wouldn’t normally follow the match, you should at the very least take a look at the openings; you’re bound to find something of interest if your openings are tested.