Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 1, 2026

Ju Wenjun

Ju Wenjun is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the reigning five-time Women's World Champion, a former Women's World Blitz Chess Champion, and a two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In March 2017, she became the fifth woman to achieve a rating of 2600. She first won the title of Women's World Chess Champion in May 2018. She then defended her title in November 2018, 2020, 2023, and 2025.

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Ju Wenjun
居文君
Ju Wenjun at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024
Personal information
Born (1991-01-31) 31 January 1991
Shanghai, China
Chess career
Country China
TitleGrandmaster (2014)
Women's World Champion2018–present (2018May, 2018Nov, 2020, 2023, 2025)
FIDE rating2560 (July 2026)
Peak rating2604 (March 2017)

Ju Wenjun (Chinese: 居文君; pinyin: Jū Wénjūn; born 31 January 1991)1 is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the reigning five-time Women's World Champion, a former Women's World Blitz Chess Champion, and a two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In March 2017, she became the fifth woman to achieve a rating of 2600. She first won the title of Women's World Chess Champion in May 2018. She then defended her title in November 2018, 2020, 2023, and 2025.

Career

Ju started learning to play chess at the age of seven.23 She soon went against local players her age and in national tournaments, performing well in her appearances.2

In December 2004, Ju Wenjun tied for the second place at the Asian Women's Chess Championship in Beirut,4 which earned her an invitation to play in her first Women's World Chess Championship in 2006 where she was eliminated in the third round. Between 2008 and 2017, Ju played in five matches for the world championship, including Women's World Chess Championship 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017, but did not earn the title.2

She won the Women's Chinese Chess Championship in 2010 and 2014.52 In July 2011 she won the Hangzhou Women Grandmaster Chess Tournament, undefeated with a score of 6½/9 points and ahead of the then women's world champion Hou Yifan.6 She took the second place at the Nalchik stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011–12 with 7/11, ranked only after her compatriot Zhao Xue; her performance was enough to acquire her third and final norm required for the Grandmaster title.7 However, one of the three norms was missing the signature of the arbiter, disqualifying her for the title consideration.8 In the 5th stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14 held in Lopota Resort, Georgia, she finished jointly second with Elina Danielian and a 7/11 score. This marks her fourth GM norm. In the 6th stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14 held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, from August 24 to September 7, 2014 she placed joint first with Hou Yifan with a score of 8½/11, winning the event thanks to a better tiebreak score.8

In November 2014, FIDE awarded her the GM title in the 4th quarter Presidential Board meeting in Sochi, Russia.92 With six GM norms, including three norms from the Women's Grand Prix (1 from each series), she became China's 31st grandmaster and the 31st woman to hold the title. Also in 2014, she tied for first with Lei Tingjie in the 4th China Women Masters Tournament in Wuxi.10 In December 2017, Ju won the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship in Riyadh,11 and won in the same championship held in St. Petersburg in December 2018,12 scoring 11½/15 (+8=7)13 and 10/12 (+8=4),14 respectively.

Ju Wenjun won FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16,15 which qualified her for Women's World Chess Championship 2017 challenging incumbent champion Tan Zhongyi.1617 Ju won the match with a score of 5½–4½ in May 2018, becoming the Women's World Chess Champion.18 The next Women's World Chess Championship held in November 2018 was decided by a 64-player knockout tournament. Ju won the tournament, retaining her title.19 Since then, she has defended her title in matches three times: first against Aleksandra Goryachkina in the Women's World Chess Championship 2020 (6–6; 2½–1½ in tiebreaks), then against Lei Tingjie in the Women's World Chess Championship 2023 (6½–5½), and most recently in the Women's World Chess Championship 2025 (6½–2½) against Tan Zhongyi.2 In March 2017, she became the fifth woman to achieve a rating of 2600.2021

Ju Wenjun playing Anish Giri in Round 1 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024 source ↗

Ju earned the biggest win of her career in the fifth round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024, defeating then world number 6 Alireza Firouzja.22 She also drew the reigning World Champion Ding Liren in the final round, and eventually finished the tournament in 10th with 4½/13 (+1−5=7), gaining 9.7 rating points.23 In December 2024 she won the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship.2425

Team events

Ju Wenjun has played for the Chinese national women's team since 2008. Her team has won the gold medal in the 42nd Chess Olympiad (in 2016 and 2018),17 Women's World Team Chess Championship (2009 and 2011), Women's Asian Nations Chess Cup (2012, 2014 and 2016), and 2010 Asian Games, She was part of the Dragon Chilling team that won double gold at World Rapid and Blitz Team Chess Championships 2026.26

She plays for the Shanghai chess club in the China Chess League (CCL).27 In 2013, she won the silver medal with team Shanghai in the Asian Cities Chess Championship in Dubai.

Playing style

Ju Wenjun has been described as primarily a positional player. In a 2024 ChessBase profile, grandmaster Mihail Marin highlighted the solidity of her style and her sense of harmony in developing and regrouping pieces to effective squares.28 Her play has also been characterized as calm and patient, with an emphasis on improving pieces, applying positional pressure, and converting small advantages.29

Owing to her sustained success at the highest level, including five Women's World Championship titles, Ju is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and consistent players of the modern era, and as one of the most successful Women's World Champions in chess history.30

Personal life

Ju graduated from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in 2015.3

Honours

Major international and national achievements
Competition Gold Silver Bronze Total
Women's World Chess Championship 5 0 0 5
Chess Olympiad 3 5 1 9
World Rapid Chess Championship 2 0 1 3
World Blitz Chess Championship 1 0 0 1
World Team Chess Championship 2 2 1 5
Asian Team Chess Championship 3 0 0 3
Chinese Women's Chess Championship 2 0 1 3
Total 18 7 4 29
References

References

  1. WGM title application Archived 2021-12-15 at the Wayback Machine. FIDE.
  2. Gregersen, Erik (June 1, 2026). "Ju Wenjun Chinese chess player". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  3. "JU WENJUN". Федерация шахмат России. Archived from the original on 2023-05-01. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  4. "TWIC 529: Asian Women's Championship" Archived 2021-09-02 at the Wayback Machine. The Week in Chess. 2004-12-27.
  5. Ramirez, Alejandro (2014-03-29). "Yu Yangyi & Ju Wenjun Chinese Champs". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  6. Liang, Ziming (2011-07-26). "1st Hangzhou WGM Tournament – Ju Wenjun wins, Harika becomes GM". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 2022-08-05. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  7. "Title Applications – 4th quarter Presidential Board Meeting, 7–10 November 2014, Sochi, RUS". FIDE. Archived from the original on 2024-12-08. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  8. Niklesh Kumar Jain (2014-09-14). "Sharjah Grand Prix winner Ju Wenjun". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 2022-08-05. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  9. "List of titles approved by the 4th quarter PB 2014" Archived 2014-11-26 at the Wayback Machine. FIDE.
  10. "Lei Ting jie wins China Women Master". News About Chess. 2014-05-15. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  11. "Viswanathan Anand and Ju Wenjun are World Rapid Champions!". Chessdom. 2017-12-28. Archived from the original on 2018-05-06. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  12. "FIDE World Rapid Champions: Dubov and Ju". ChessBase. 28 December 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  13. "King Salman World Rapid Championship 2017 Women". chess-results.com. 28 December 2017. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  14. "King Salman World Rapid Championship 2018 Women". chess-results.com. 28 December 2018. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  15. "Ju Wenjun is triumphant in Khanty-Mansiysk". FIDE. 1 December 2016. Archived from the original on 11 December 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  16. Schulz, André (2016-12-05). "Ju Wenjun wins Grand Prix series". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  17. "Ju Wenjun profile". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 2026-04-08. Retrieved 2026-06-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  18. PeterDoggers (May 18, 2018). "Ju Wenjun Wins Women's World Championship". Chess.com.
  19. Houska, Jovanka (24 November 2018). "Ju Wenjun Beats Lagno In Playoff, Wins Women's World Chess Championship". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  20. McGourty, Colin (July 7, 2021). "Goryachkina 6th woman ever to cross 2600". chess24. Archived from the original on 2023-05-19.
  21. Church, Ben. "Chinese grandmaster Ju Wenjun makes history by winning fifth Women's World Chess Championship".
  22. "Tata Steel Chess R5: Ju upsets Firouzja, Roebers stuns Niemann". Chess News. 2024-01-19. Archived from the original on 2025-06-17. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  23. "Ding Liren vs Ju Wenjun - Tata Steel Chess 2024 Masters". Chess.com.
  24. "Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi Agree To Share World Blitz Title, Ju Wins Women's". chess.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  25. "Magnus Carlsen defends Blitz title, shares it with Nepomniachtchi; Wenjun Champion in Women's section". Sportstar. Archived from the original on 16 August 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  26. "Dragon Chilling complete golden double at the FIDE World Team Blitz Championship". FIDE. 22 Jun 2026.
  27. "雅戈尔杯中国国际象棋甲级联赛官方网站". Archived from the original on 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
  28. Liebig, Stefan (6 September 2024). "ChessBase Magazine 221: Ju Wenjun - Portrait of a three-time world champion". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 5 June 2026. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  29. Ray, Adhip (28 February 2026). "Ju Wenjun: World Champion Precision (How She Wins Quietly)". Debsie. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  30. "Reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun Returns to Norway Chess Women in 2026". Norway Chess. 2026. Archived from the original on 2026-02-15. Retrieved 2026-06-06.
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