Lei Tingjie gears up for Norway Chess after Blitz silver, World No. 4 GM names Vaishali and Humpy as tough competitors

Lei Tingjie gears up for Norway Chess after Blitz silver, World No. 4 GM names Vaishali and Humpy as tough competitors

Lei Tingjie gears up for Norway Chess after Blitz silver, World No. 4 GM names Vaishali and Humpy as tough competitors ByNeelav Chakravarti Feb 12, 2025 06:58 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Lei Tingjie is currently only occupied with chess, and that has been her life in general.

Going into Norway Chess 2025, Lei Tingjie is in good form. The Chinese Grandmaster recently clinched silver at the recently concluded World Blitz Championship 2024. It was a closely-fought affair in the final against Ju Wenjun, but the reigning four-time Women’s World Champion came out on top, edging past Tingjie in their second sudden-death game.

Lei Tingjie bagged silver at the 2024 World Blitz Championship.(Twitter (FIDE/Stev Bonhage))

Speaking to Hindustan Times, the 27-year-old opened up on her experience in New York during 2024’s year-ending World Rapid and Blitz Championships, and remarked that she was pleased with her campaign. “I think New York is a fantastic place because this was my first time there. When I finished Rapid, I played very badly. I considered…okay, maybe it would be like a bad tournament for me. And then I thought that in Rapid, I played very badly. Maybe I can play very good in Blitz. Even though I finished in second place, I was very satisfied because maybe like in the quarter final stage, maybe I was lost, but then I reached the final. Yes, somehow maybe I realised I have some chances to win this tournament, but okay my opponent was the World Champion, also she's very strong. So I think generally it was a fantastic tournament and also this experience for me, it was helpful.”

2024 also saw Norway Chess introduce a women’s tournament for the first time and the line-up was led by the likes of Tingjie and Wenjun, with the latter finishing as the eventual winner. “Okay, last year was the first time I played at Norway Chess. Also, this is the first time for the Norway Chess women's section. And I think last year for the Armageddon stage, I played, how to say, very badly. I can say that. So this year I tried to improve my Armageddon skills. Also, I finished second place in New York. So hopefully this year I can do better”, Tingjie recalled.

Chess fans in India were particularly focussed on the women’s section at the World Blitz Championship 2024, as Vaishali Rameshbabu finished on top of the standings on Day 1. Tingjie came second as the top-eight qualified for the knockout stage. A title contender after her display, Vaishali beat Zhu Jiner in the quarter-finals, but saw her run end in the semi-finals as she fell to a defeat to Wenjun. On being asked if she ever had a personal interaction with Vaishali, the World No. 4 (women's standard FIDE rankings) remarked, “No, but sometimes we just say hi to each other and smile to each other. Generally, I think Vashali is also very shy and generally she focuses on playing chess. Maybe in Norway Chess or Grand Prix, we can talk much more.”

The 27-year-old is currently only occupied with chess, and that has been her life in general. She received the Grandmaster title in 2017 at the tender age of 19. Only six female players have successfully broken the GM barrier before turning twenty, and they are Hou Yifan, Koneru Humpy, Judit Polgar, Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Tingjie; an illustrious list indeed!

“Now I'm in Shanghai because now I live in Shanghai. Okay. And recently, I started to prepare for the Grand Prix because I think I will go to Cyprus to play the Grand Prix next month and also India in April. So yeah, generally chess,” she said.

She was born in 1997 in Chongqing, and caught everyone's attention in 2014, when she won the 4th China Women Masters Tournament in Wuxi, on tiebreak against Wenjun. Then in 2015, she was victorious at the Women's Open Tournament of the Moscow Open, followed by winning the Chinese Women's National C'ship in 2017. After receiving the GM title on March 2017, she went on to get silver at the 2017 Women's World Rapid Chess C'ship.

She has represented China in multiple tournaments, and has put in dominant performances. Some of her highlights include a gold medal at the 201 Asian Nations Cup and 2018 Batumi Olympiad.

The Chinese GM also revealed how she started playing chess as a child, and what attracted her to the sport. “Okay then I started to play chess when I was five years old. I think because one day, I passed by a chess chess school and I just watched it from outside. I just thought it was so interesting because you can see the Knight and Bishop, I think it's just like a game. And for me, it was interesting and I started to play and I told my parents, I really wanted to focus on playing chess. And I remember that time I also got into a dancing school. Then later on, I choose to play chess only. And my mom also took me to a lot of places to find a better coach and to play chess. I think when I was 12 years old and I started to become a professional chess player, I think my parents sacrificed a lot. I also sacrificed. I mean, compared to same-age people. I didn't travel a lot and mostly I spent time on playing chess and also working with coaches. So I think everything is worth it because of this chess stuff, I really like it so I chose it and I will never regret choosing it,” she stated.

Tingjie won the Women’s Grand Swiss title in 2021, and was also the 2022-23 Women’s Candidates winner, which saw her challenge reigning Women’s World Champion Wenjun for the title. But she lost the showdown, and it saw Wenjun’s reign continue. Women’s chess is also highly competitive, and when you compare Tingjie’s World Blitz final and the controversial Magnus Carlsen vs Ian Nepomniachtchi title clash, it probably has a better edge in terms of entertaining fans.

Naming some of her toughest competitors, she said, “Okay, I think you can say that world champion Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi are very strong. You can see Vashali (Rameshbabu) is very strong. Humpy (Koneru) is always strong, even though she's been active in chess for a long time. But generally, I think she's a very stable player. You can say Muzychuk Sisters are very strong. And also from Russia, I think Goryachkina (Aleksandra) and Lagno (Kateryna) are very strong. Also, you can see that Chinese chess players are very strong. I think Zhu Jiner and Lu Miaoyi, I think they are very strong. Maybe they can become like, how to say, the new generation of Chinese team.”

“I think actually you can see that women's chess future is much brighter than before. Nowadays there are a lot of people who enjoy watching women's chess because you can see that men's chess is very high level and they are very stable but women's chess is always very interesting. You can say like our games are sometimes like a roller coaster, it's really fun to watch it and also there are more and more sponsors to support women's chess. I think this is a good side for us also for chess because I think women's chess is a little bit different, but still, I think women can play very well,” she concluded.

The Norway Chess Women 2025 line-up has already been confirmed and will once again be led by Wenjun, Tingjie. Meanwhile, the other participants are Humpy, Anna Muzychuk, Vaishali and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh. The tournament is scheduled begin on May 26 in Stavanger, Norway.