Kazakh grandmaster Bibisara Assaubayeva shared third place at the Cairns Cup-2026 super tournament in the United States with American international master Carissa Yip, reports infohub.kz.

The prestigious competition was won for the second time by 16th Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi of China. In the final round, the Chinese player suffered her first loss in St. Louis, but the defeat with black pieces against Stavroula Tsolakidou did not prevent her from finishing first and adding $65,000 to her bank account.

The silver medal went to one of the tournament's hosts, Alice Lee, who drew her last game in an all-American clash with Yip.

Assaubayeva, a three-time world blitz champion, playing with white pieces, failed to gain a decisive advantage in her game against Humpy Koneru. The two-time world rapid champion equalized, and on move 35 the opponents agreed to a draw.

Assaubayeva and Yip will each receive $35,000 in prize money, Koneru $9,000, and silver medalist Lee $50,000. The other players also did not go without financial bonuses. Even the tournament's outsider, women's title challenger Vaishali Rameshbabu, earned $7,000.

The prestigious women's super tournament Cairns Cup, with a prize fund of $250,000, took place in the Mecca of American chess, St. Louis, Missouri. Ten players, who received personal invitations from the organizers, competed in a round-robin format.

The tournament is named after Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, co-founder of the St. Louis Chess Club and a member of the World Chess Hall of Fame.

In parallel, the men's tournament, the Sinquefield Cup-2026, also named after Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, was held in St. Louis. The competition, with a prize fund of $475,000, was won by Wesley So. The American and Indian Pragnanandhaa Rameshbabu, the brother of the women's tournament's last-place finisher, both scored 5.5 points in nine rounds. The regulations called for a playoff to determine the winner.

The rapid games ended in draws, as did the 'Armageddon' game. According to the rules, in this case, the player with the black pieces, which was So, was declared the winner. Wesley ultimately earned $103,125, while his opponent took home $100,937.

Women's title challenger Javokhir Sindarov, Assaubayeva's boyfriend, also finished third, but will receive more – $58,125.