The first game of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2020 (WWCC), held in Shanghai, China, ended with a hard-fought draw.

Ye Jiangchuan, President of the Chinese Chess Federation, and Alexandr Shmanevskiy, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Shanghai, made the first symbolic moves in the game.

The opening was as cautious as it gets: Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), playing White, chose 1.d4 as her first move. Instead of her usual Ragozin defense, defending champion Ju Wenjun (China) opted for 4…Be7. The challenger decided to go for a solid Catalan with 5.g3. 

The impression is that Goryachkina tried to take the game out of the book as soon as she could, and despite the symmetrical and seemingly equal position, she managed to put some pressure on the Champion. In fact, an inaccuracy by Ju Wenjun gave the Russian the opportunity to gain an advantage, and for a while, the Challenger seemed to be playing cat and mouse with the Champion, only to squander it with an untimely rook exchange on move 44.  Although the endgame bishop vs. knight looked unpleasant for Black, Ju stoically defended for the next 50-plus moves, before the draw was agreed right before the opponents reached the sixth hour of play.

At the press conference held after the game, Ju complimented Goryachkina’s fighting style, looking to exploit even minuscule chances. For her part,  Goryachkina was content with putting the world champion on the ropes at the very start of the match.

Game 2 will be played tomorrow, January 6, with Ju Wenjun having white pieces.

Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com

Text: Michael Friedman

Photos: Zhang Yanhong

Contact: press@fide.com

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