Four One-act Plays

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) – 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié)

Women’s World Chess Championship 2023; match game 8; 重庆 (Chóngqìng), July 16, 2023

5k2/4R2p/5B1P/5bP1/5P2/4K3/3r4/8 b - - 6 57

Position after 57. Kf2-e3

So, finally, 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) did it. And since she did it in 重庆 (Chóngqìng) — the birth city of her opponent — one might well say that “revenge is a dish best served spicy hot”. Yet it was anything but easy for her, as after having the upper hand for much of the time, once again it seemed that White was left with a handful of flies:
57. ... Rd6? In severe time pressure, 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié) overlooks an amazing drawing resource: 57. ... Rd3+! 58. Ke2 Rd4!! forcing either the exchange of Rooks or the gain of the f-Pawn.
58. Rc7! Rd3+ 59. Ke2 Rd5 60. Bc3 Ke8 61. Kf2 Kf8 62. Bb4+ Ke8 63. Re7+ Kd8 64. Rf7 Ke8 65. Rf8+ Kd7 66. Bc3 Bg6 67. Rg8 Rd6 68. Be5 Rd2+ 69. Kf3 Rd3+ 70. Kg4 Rd1

71. Rxg6! hxg6 72. h7 1 : 0.

With four games to go, 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) scored a so badly needed equaliser. Photo: Stev Bonhage/FIDE.