Ju Wenjun Wins Women's World Championship; Shankland Wins Capa Memorial
Ju Wenjun comfortably drew the 10th and final game to take the Women's World Championship title from her countrywoman Tan Zhongyi, and is guaranteed to wear the crown for all of...six months. Congrats to her all the same; she is a deserving title-holder (she's the second-ranked woman in the world, behind only Hou Yifan, who no longer participates in women's world championship events) who has also made a number of important contributions to opening theory. More on game 10, here.
Congratulations are also in order for Sam Shankland, who went an undefeated +1 in the last three rounds of the Capablanca Memorial to finish with an impressive +5 score (7.5/10). His rating at the end of the month will be 2717, good for 30th in the world. Well done!
Reader Comments (1)
Personally, I've found the women's world championships to be much more interesting as a sporting event than the men's events. In 10 games, there were 5 decisive results, compared to the two decisive games in the 12-game match between Carlsen and Karjakin. Sure, the technical level might have been higher for C vs. K, given their ratings, but for anyone who couldn't follow all of the details (and that's 99% of chessplayers) the match was just a long bunch of draws. Same for both of the Carlsen vs. Anand matches, and Anand vs. Gelfand. Snooze. Compare that to the women's world championship matches, which have been much more engaging and dramatic, even considering their lower ratings.