Ju Wenjun Defeats Aleksandra Goryachkina in Game 4 of WWCM

The score is 2.5-1.5 in favour of the world champion.

The fourth game of the FIDE Women's World Championship Match between Ju Wenjun (China) and Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) was played in Shanghai on January 9. 

The women's world champion had the white pieces. The opponents played a line of the Slav Defence which boiled down to the position from the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Ju Wenjun got a small but stable advantage as her pieces were more active. After a series of exchanges, a position with queens and bishops of the same color appeared. 

The Russian player erroneously offered her opponent to trade the bishops thus deteriorating her own pawn structure. In the queen endgame, Aleksandra had to maintain a tough defense. At one point, the challenger made a mistake in a difficult position thus allowing her opponent to exchange the queens and get a winning pawn endgame, but Ju Wenjun opted for another continuation. However, soon the same key position appeared and the champion made the strongest choice. 

In the pawn endgame, the Chinese player was acting very precisely and faultlessly and celebrated victory on the 63rd moe.  





The score is 2.5-1.5. 

January 10 is a free day. The fifth game, in which Aleksandra Goryachkina will have the white pieces, will be played on January 11.  

Official website

Tournament page

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili