2025 Women's World Chess Championship Game 2: Tan Creates Endgame Magic

Lichess is providing a live stream for every day of the Women's World Championship. Make sure to tune in to our Twitch or YouTube channels for live stream coverage with our hosts GM Toms Kantāns and WIM Jesse February, joined by a rotating panel of guests. Round 3 starts at 07:00 UTC on Sunday, April 6th, and GM Srinath Narayanan will join our stream!

Additionally, we will cover every game in our blog, with annotations by WIM Silvia Raluca Sgîrcea for games 1-6 and WGM Petra Papp for games 7-12.

The annotations by WIM Silvia Raluca Sgîrcea for Game 2 can be found at the bottom of the article.

Lichess has also run player profiles on GM Ju Wenjun and GM Tan Zhongyi, and published a Match Preview ahead of the match.

Schedule

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WttNRr0fr9A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYpRGRLunMo

Stream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duswOqsCbDM

Match Score

Recap

After yesterday's tame start to the match, GM Tan Zhongyi showed that she was ready to fight as she chose a combative yet solid opening in the English Opening, 1. c4. A topical line of the Four Knights Variation of the English Opening was soon reached, as GM Ju Wenjun responded with the liquidating and direct 4...d5 to Tan's 4. g3:

Tan gets ready for the fight ahead.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

Play proceeded normally as both sides developed their pieces to logical squares. On move 8, Ju went for the energetic and popular 8...h6, keeping White's pieces away from the g5 square and maintaining the tension.

Ju looks up at the big screen.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

The knight tension in the center was then clarified and Ju's prophylactic 10...Qd6 showed, as commentator WIM Jesse February noted, a core feature of Ju's style: her solidity.

The handshake
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

After the normal repositioning move, 11. Bc3, Ju hit back with a novelty, 11...Qe7. Tan continued to play quickly, responding with 12. Nd2, and after about ten minutes of thought, Ju replied with 12...Nd4. Tan again played rapidly, opting for 13. e3; however, at that juncture, 13. Nc4, preparing 14. e3 with winning the e5-pawn, was perhaps the better option:

An exciting positional opening was on the cards.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

Following 13. e3, the first major imbalance was on the board as Tan lost her bishop pair but gained an open b-file and bolstered her center.

Tan thinking - probably about the next move.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

Tan then grabbed more space with 16. a5 and put her queen on b3 with 17. Qb3. She then forced Ju's dark-squared bishop off the board and, with 20. d4, seemed to be pressing a small positional advantage.

Tan seemed to be pressing for a small positional advantage.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

Ju responded correctly and with alacrity, though, breaking the position open with 20...b6!, after which she developed her rook and bishop to c8 and e6. However, by that point, she was quite down on time, so clock pressure was a significant factor in today's game.

Ju takes a closer look at the position.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

On move 25, however, there did not seem to be much of a plan for White — Tan did not find one, at least — so Tan decided to trade pieces with 25. dxe5 and 26. Qd4. Ju was more than happy to acquiesce to trades, and, soon, the resulting double rook endgame transformed into a single rook endgame.

The position seemed to have calmed down.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

A draw seemed all but certain, but the engine's evaluations can be very deceptive in these positions. Black's pawn on b5 was weaker than White's on d4, and as Tan improved her pieces, Ju could not do the same. Just one slip, 40...Ke8, sealed Ju's fate as she lost her pawn and Tan's pawn, escorted by her king, marched forward to queen-land.

After Ju's blunder, Tan only had to convert the endgame.
Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

Annotations by WIM Silvia Raluca Sgîrcea