GM Ju Wenjun has beaten GM Tan Zhongyi 6.5-2.5 to win the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Championship and become only the fourth woman in history to win the title five times. The title holder since 2018 wrapped up the match with three games to spare after making a rock-solid draw in game nine. She takes the €300,000 ($340k) winner’s prize, while Tan takes €200,000.
All of Ju’s previous matches had gone to the final game, but this time, despite falling behind in game two, a four-game winning streak blew away her opponent.
2025 Women’s World Championship Match
| Name | Rating | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Score |
| Tan Zhongyi | 2555 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | . | . | . | 2.5 |
| Ju Wenjun | 2561 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | . | . | . | 6.5 |
The 34-year-old Chinese grandmaster first claimed the crown in 2018 by beating Tan in a match, before defending the title in a 64-player knockout later that year and then in matches against GMs Aleksandra Goryachkina (2020) and Lei Tingjie (2023). Her seven-year reign will now extend at least until the next match in 2026-7.
Women’s World Champions
With Ju’s latest victory she’s now joined Vera Menchik, Nona Gaprindashvili, and Maia Chiburdanidze in the rarefied ranks of players to have won the title five times or more.
| # | Player | Dates | Wins | Years Won |
| 1 | Vera Menchik | 1927-44 | 8 | 1927, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937 (2), 1939 |
| 2 | Lyudmila Rudenko | 1950-53 | 1 | 1950 |
| 3 | Elisaveta Bykova | 1953-56, 1958-62 | 3 | 1953, 1958, 1959 |
| 4 | Olga Rubtsova | 1956-58 | 1 | 1956 |
| 5 | Nona Gaprindashvili | 1962-78 | 5 | 1962, 1965, 1969, 1972, 1975 |
| 6 | Maia Chiburdanidze | 1978-91 | 5 | 1978, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1988 |
| 7 | Xie Jun | 1991-96, 1999-2001 | 4 | 1991, 1993, 1999, 2000 |
| 8 | Susan Polgar | 1996-99 | 1 | 1996 |
| 9 | Zhu Chen | 2001-04 | 1 | 2001 |
| 10 | Antoaneta Stefanova | 2004-06 | 1 | 2004 |
| 11 | Xu Yuhua | 2006-08 | 1 | 2006 |
| 12 | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2008-10 | 1 | 2008 |
| 13 | Hou Yifan | 2010-12, 2013-15, 2016-17 | 4 | 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 |
| 14 | Anna Ushenina | 2012-13 | 1 | 2012 |
| 15 | Mariya Muzychuk | 2015-16 | 1 | 2015 |
| 16 | Tan Zhongyi | 2017-18 | 1 | 2017 |
| 17 | Ju Wenjun | 2018-present | 5 | 2018 (2), 2020, 2023, 2025 |
Read more: All The Women’s World Chess Champions
The final game saw Tan Zhongyi faced with a mission impossible—she had to win four games in a row simply to force tiebreaks.
Tan Zhongyi’s task is simple… and all but impossible — she must win the next 4 games to force tiebreaks!#JuTan pic.twitter.com/4w8AAPnrH6
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 16, 2025
A famous Chinese saying is that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” but Ju had no interest in allowing that step.
GM Rafael Leitao will analyze game nine of the match below.
The players are an inspiration to the upcoming generations of Chinese players, so it was fitting some kids got to make the ceremonial opening moves for the last game of the match.
😍 So cute! Young chess fans made the first ceremonial moves in Game 9 at the FIDE Women’s World Championship Match! #JuTan #WomenInChess pic.twitter.com/TjU03OKtIS
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 16, 2025
For the fifth game in a row, Ju opened 1.e4, and for a fifth time, Tan responded with 1…c5, the Sicilian. As always in the match, we got an early deviation, with 5.Re1 Nd4 new moves for the players.
In fact we soon got a lively-looking position, although one that favored Ju.
The current position in Ju-Tan is rare, but was seen yesterday in the Late Titled Tuesday, where Bacrot beat Lazavik! https://t.co/5Y7sBiNGWQ#JuTan pic.twitter.com/AYNmgmk6qd
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 16, 2025
The Titled Tuesday game less than 12 hours earlier had been wild, but the women’s world champion had no interest in complications and went for 17.Qb3, giving up the d4-pawn and all White’s advantage in exchange for a position Ju had correctly judged was a draw.
Even if Tan had wanted to rage against the dying of the light there was little she could do. It would have been sad to overpress and collapse again for a fifth loss in a row, so instead she played carefully and the game raced to its logical conclusion. Ju had won her fifth world championship title!
Tan Zhongyi accepts a draw and Ju Wenjun becomes only the 4th woman in history to win the Women’s World Chess Championship 5 times! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆#JuTan pic.twitter.com/33jUwEgtOu
— chess24 (@chess24com) April 16, 2025
Good news for chess fans is that both Tan and Ju will be back in action soon. Tan plays the TePe Sigeman Tournament in Malmo, Sweden, starting May 20, where she’ll play the likes of GMs Vidit Gujrathi, Richard Rapport, and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, while Ju will now be one of two five-time world champions playing in Norway Chess on May 26.
How to watch the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship
The 2025 FIDE Women’s World Championship is the most important women’s over-the-board event of the year. The defending women’s world champion, GM Ju Wenjun, faces the challenger, GM Tan Zhongyi, to see who will be crowned world champion. The championship started on April 3 in Shanghai and boasts a €500,000 ($540k) prize fund.
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