3 min learnCould 16, 2026 11:40 PM IST
The strongest lady ever to play chess, Judit Polgar, has given her verdict on who she feels will win the upcoming Girls’s World Chess Championship. The legendary Hungarian has positioned her bets on the defending and five-time World Champion, China’s Ju Wenjun, to efficiently defend her crown for a report sixth time in opposition to India’s R Vaishali.
Polgar mentioned Ju might be a really huge problem for Vaishali, and the Indian would wish to considerably enhance her sport with the intention to be prepared for the high-stakes occasion.
“Effectively, it’s a really powerful match and really attention-grabbing. Ju Wenjun already has expertise enjoying in World Championship matches. She’s very powerful, very a lot prepared for lengthy video games, and the large expertise is one thing that issues lots,” she instructed FIDE, the worldwide chess federation.
“For Vaishali, it will likely be a really huge problem, and I believe she must enhance fairly a bit to be prepared for the World Championship match. Effectively, let’s see if expertise will win or the youthful era,” she mentioned about Vaishali’s possibilities in opposition to Ju.
Legendary Judit Polgár shares her ideas on the Girls’s World Championship conflict between 🇨🇳 Ju Wenjun and Vaishali Rameshbabu 🇮🇳#JuVaishali #WomenInChess pic.twitter.com/Hoj7q0UcvF
— Worldwide Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) May 16, 2026
When requested who she can be rooting for within the upcoming championship, which might be performed later this 12 months or in early 2027, Polgar named Ju as her clear favorite. “Effectively, expertise is all the time one thing that issues lots, and on this case additionally, it’s clearly Ju Wenjun who’s the favorite,” she mentioned in a video launched by FIDE.
Vaishali had an distinctive efficiency on the lately concluded Candidates match in Cyprus, the place the lowest-rated and lowest-seeded Indian stunned everybody to win the World Championship challenger occasion and earned the precise to problem Ju, who has held the crown since 2018 and has defended it 4 instances since then.
Vaishali has been spectacular in big-ticket occasions, having received the FIDE Grand Swiss two instances back-to-back. She additionally completed joint second within the 2024 Toronto Candidates.
Former India No. 1 (within the dwell ranking checklist) Pentala Harikrishna had highlighted a aspect of Ju’s dominance: her capacity to thrive below the stress of a world championship match. “Even in case you’re robust, a world championship match is a distinct beast. Her expertise from 4 earlier title defences helps, however what’s exceptional is her sustained depth in opposition to youthful, hungry opponents like [Aleksandra] Goryachkina and Lei [Tingjie],” he had instructed The Indian Specific in 2025.
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Some of the hanging features of Ju’s sport, based on Harikrishna, is her capacity to reset after gruelling battles. “We had been trailing after the primary six video games, and although she had possibilities within the second half, she stored lacking them. But, miraculously, she’d arrive recent for the subsequent spherical. Folks at press conferences typically requested me how drained she regarded, however I knew that’s simply how she was constructed,” he mentioned.