The reigning World Women’s Chess Champion Ju Wenjun made a huge upset yesterday at Tata Steel Chess 2024, defeating Alireza Firouzja. It was her first win against a player rated more than 2750, and expectedly, she was in a good mood for the post-game interview with Fiona Steil Antoni.
Analyzing the game, Ju Wenjun revealed that she felt Alireza played for a win, while she tried to stay solid: “It was about equal, but he played very aggressive, but the pawn structure was maybe not so good for him“.
“A lot of people say they feel you’re underrated“, said Fiona Steil-Antoni shocking the Chinese grandmaster who laughed out loud and immediately responded with: “Who said that [I’m underrated]?“. “Okay, I don’t have so many classical games in the last three years, and also it depends on tournaments. In some tournaments, play is very solid, so it’s not easy to improve your rating“, added Wenjun.
Answering the question of how she spent a rest day, Ju Wenjun disclosed that she enjoyed some good Chinese food with Wei Yi: “It’s true good food is a good mood for me. I like food just like I like chess!“. See the complete post-game interview with Ju Wenjun below.
