Norway Chess Women 2026: Divya beats World Champion Wenjun in Armageddon

By admin May 26, 2026 0 comments

Divya Deshmukh scored a huge win against the reigning Women’s World Champion, Wenjun Ju in Round 1 of Norway Chess Women 2026.

Humpy’s bold play backfires

Just like D Gukesh, Divya Deshmukh is also a great fighter. Despite having a worse position for the better part of her Classical game against the five-time reigning Women’s World Champion, Wenjun Ju, Divya kept defending. Eventually, she managed to salvage a draw. In Armageddon, Divya prevailed and scored her first win against Wenjun. The defending champion, Anna Muzychuk started her campaign with a loss against Jiner Zhu. Humpy Koneru’s decision to take the game to the reigning three-time World Blitz Women’s champion, Bibisara Assaubayeva, did not work out in her way.

Divya Deshmukh scored the biggest win of her career when she defetaed the reigning five-time Women’s World Champion – Wenjun Ju (CHN) | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

Wenjun – Divya: 1-1.5

This was the first time the reigning Women’s World Champion, Wenjun Ju (CHN, 2559) faced the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 winner, Divya Deshmukh (2500) in a Classical rated game. Wenjun missed all of her opportunities to win the game and Divya escaped with a draw, forcing Armageddon.

Armageddon

Position after 33.Qg4

33…h5 would have forced White to drop the knight 34.Nf5 to prevent losing the queen. However, since it was Armageddon, Black missed it and played 32…Nd5. Eventually White went on to blunder her queen in a queen and knight endgame.

Divya Deshmukh at the confession booth for the very first time | Video: Norway Chess

The handshake after Armageddon | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

Anna – Jiner: 1-1.5

The defending champion of the event, Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 2522) drew the Classical against Jiner Zhu (CHN, 2546). Jiner was winning in Armageddon. However, she drew as a draw also results in her winning the match.

A rough start for the defending champion, Anna Muzychuk | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

Humpy – Bibisara: 0-3

The legend, Humpy Koneru (2535) and Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ, 2527) have played five Classical rated games against each other. Humpy won two, Bibisara one and the remaining two ended in draws. Humpy played very boldly and it cost her the game.

Position after 44…Qd2+

After surviving the initial hiccup, Humpy managed to get back in the game, only to blunder in he final moments of the queen, bishop and knight endgame. 45.Kg1 keeps White in the fight. However, 45.Kf3? Ne5+ 46.Ke4?? Qe2+.finished things in a hurry as White must give up the queen to prevent from getting checkmated.

Humpy wanted to take the game to her opponent but it backfired badly | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

Round 1 in progress at Deichman Bjørvika library in Oslo, Norway | Photo: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

Replay Round 1 games

Round 1 Women results

Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – Jiner Zhu (CHN): 1-1.5
Wenjun Ju (CHN) – Divya Deshmukh: 1-1.5
Humpy Koneru – Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ): 0-3

Standings after Round 1

Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) scored the sole Classical win in Round 1 | Graphic: Norway Chess / Tor Nilssen & Kjetil V. Tveito

Round 2 pairings

Jiner Zhu (CHN) – Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ)

Divya Deshmukh – Humpy Koneru

Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – Wenjun Ju (CHN)

Open and Women pairings of all rounds | Graphic: Norway Chess

🎯 Read Also: ChessBase´26: A Players Guide (1)

Format

6 players will take part in the Tournament.

The Tournament is a double-round event with Armageddon.

The Tournament consists of 10 rounds.

Berger tables will be used for the pairings.

Default time is 15 minutes.

Time Control

Each player will have 120 minutes on the clock with an increment of 10 seconds starting from move 41. The time control for the Armageddon game: white has 10 minutes and black has 7 minutes with an increment for both players of 1 second per move, starting from move 41.

Draw by Mutual Agreement

Players are not allowed to agree to a draw until at least 30 moves have been made by each player. This rule does not apply to Armageddon games.

Armageddon

If the classical game is drawn, an Armageddon game will be played. It shall start within 20 minutes of the conclusion of the classical game. The player with White pieces will continue with White in Armageddon. If the Armageddon game is drawn, black will win.