Ju Wenjun vs. Tan Zhongyi, game 6 Opening: A new branch of the English
Game 6 of the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship is underway, and Tan Zhongyi, playing White, is sticking with the English, 1. c4. She has deviated from the earlier match games with an uncommon early b3, against which Ju Wenjun opted for a Queen’s Gambit Declined structure with …e6 and …d5. Zhongyi responded with a double fianchetto, 6. g3 and 7. Bg2.
They continued to follow a line seen in several top level games, as recently as Caruana-Praggnanandhaa, 2024. The tenth move has a quirk where most players have chosen Nc4, but some, including now this game, have immediately played e3. The database has plenty of decisive games, which Zhongyi will need another one of to level the match at the halfway mark.
The first 10 moves of game 6 are given below. Follow the game live on Lichess, or on stream with commentary by IMs Jovanka Houska and Irene Sukandar.
