Ahead of the final two rounds of the prestigious Cairns Cup 2026 super tournament, Kazakhstan's grandmaster Bibisara Asaubayeva confidently holds second place, reports infohub.kz.
The latest game day of the super tournaments in the United States was triumphant for Bibisara Asaubayeva and her boyfriend Javokhir Sindarov. The Kazakhstani player defeated Greek chess player Stavroula Tsolakidou, while the Uzbek proved stronger than German Vincent Keymer.
In the game against the representative of Hellas, the three-time world blitz champion displayed brilliant play. In a queen endgame, Asaubayeva, playing with the white pieces, launched a perfect attack. After a rook check to the black king, the international master conceded defeat.
With her second win in St. Louis (the first was over outsider Alexandra Kosteniuk), the grandmaster from Kazakhstan moved into clear second place.
Tan Zhongyi of China still leads. In the seventh round, the 16th Women's World Champion (2017-2018) forced World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh of India to resign on move 41 with the black pieces. The other two games ended in draws.
The key to the final distribution of prize money will be the Chinese-Kazakhstani clash in round 8. Asaubayeva will have the black pieces. In the ninth and final round, Bibisara will face Humpy Koneru of India with the white pieces. Tan Zhongyi will play Tsolakidou with black.
The prestigious women's super tournament Cairns Cup, with a prize fund of $250,000, is taking place in the Mecca of American chess, St. Louis, Missouri. The winner will receive $60,000.
The tournament is named after Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, co-founder of the St. Louis Chess Club, who is a member of the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Ten players who received personal invitations from the organizers play a single round-robin. The time control is classical.
In parallel, the men's tournament, the Sinquefield Cup 2026, also named after Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, is being held in St. Louis.
The competition, with a prize fund of $475,000, features Javokhir Sindarov, a contender for the chess crown and a friend of our Asaubayeva. In the seventh round, the Uzbek player scored his first victory. German grandmaster Vincent Keymer, who was handling the white pieces, resigned on move 59.