The 2025 Women’s World Chess Championship is a battle between last year’s TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament participant, world champion Wenjun Ju, China, and this year’s participant Zhongyi Tan, also China.
After 7 games out of 12, Ju has a 5-2 lead, and looks set to retain her title.
Photos by Lennart Ootes.
Here is the entire field for the 2025 Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament:
GM Vidit Gujrathi, India
GM Richard Rapport, Hungary
GM Javokhir Sindarov, Uzbekistan
GM Ray Robson, USA
GM Nils Grandelius, Sweden
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ukraine
GM Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş, Turkiye
GM Zhongyi Tan, China
For more information on the players, see the Participants menu!
The 30th Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament will be played 20-26 May 2025!
Photo by Mikael Svensson
Ju-Korobov
Ju was slightly better in the opening, after playing Bb5+ against the Sicilian Defense. Korobov equalized with some exact moves, and started to put some pressure on, but Ju defended very well. When the game turned into a rook endgame, it looked like it was heading for a draw. However, suddenly Korobov made a terrible mistake, and after that, the game could not be saved.
Abdusattorov-Maurizzi
White the white pieces in the Catalan opening, Abdusattorov got a good position early on. After 20 moves, he converted his advantage into an extra pawn, and even if Maurizzi put up a clever defense, he could not save the game.
Svidler-Keymer
As white in the Ruy Lopez, Svidler got a comfortable position, but after a while, Keymer managed to create some counter-play against the white king, which had been left on e2. Finally, Svidler had to force a draw with 38.Bxb6.
Grandelius-Erigaisi
In his game against Erigaisi, Grandelius also chose Bb5+ against the Sicilian and rapidly developed a very promising position. Despite Grandelius being two pawns up, the opposite colored bishops made a draw the most probable result. When Erigaisi played 33.- Rb8, this was a bad mistake that might have cost him the game. In time trouble, Grandelius did not managed to find the winning moves. In the end, Erigaisi managed to make it into a rook endgame that was surprisingly easy to hold.
Abdusattorov-Erigaisi-Svidler Tiebreak
In the first tiebreak with three players, Erigaisi and Abdusattrov shared first place. Svidler lost both games, despite playing very well.
In the final play-off, Abdusattorov defeated Erigaisi 1½-½ after great drama. This meant that despite a bad start, the original favorite ended up the winner!