Interview: Ju Wenjun - Women's World Chess Champion 2025

Lichess interviewed Ju Wenjun after she won her fifth Women's World Chess Championship title. Questions asked by Theo Wait, with Yilin Li behind the camera. Theo Wait:   / politehush   Yilin Li:   / yilin64squares   Follow all the standard channels of Lichess communication: https://lichess.org/ https://bsky.app/profile/lichess.org https://mastodon.online/@lichess   / lichessdotorg     / discord   If you enjoy these videos, think about becoming a Lichess Patron: https://lichess.org/patron 0:00 Start 0:11 How does it feel to have won? 0:33 Does the feeling of happiness ever change? 0:56 Stress before the match 2:01 Importance of psychological stability 2:47 Impact of knowing each other's styles 4:03 Ju's crowning victory? 5:10 Influence of personality and background on chess style 6:00 Did Ju wait for Tan to overextend? 7:06 Ju's team 8:09 How many hours of work and preparation? 9:21 Wang Pin's role on Ju's team 10:31 Not happy after winning? 11:07 Differences to 1st match against Tan? 12:52 Rate Ju's and Tan's chess level in this match 13:55 6th title defense? 15:00 Favorite opponents for next title defense 15:28 Beat the younger generation early? 16:32 How to relax after the match is over? 16:53 Plans for the near future 17:23 Interests and hobbies outside of chess 18:02 Thank you