All-Decisive Round Ends With 5 Early Leaders

All five games were decisive in round one of the Cairns Cup 2025. In the lead are GM Koneru Humpy, GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Alina Kashlinskaya, GM-elect Bibisara Assaubayeva, and IM Alice Lee after winning, respectively, against GM Nana Dzagnidze, IM Carissa Yip, GM Tan Zhongyi, GM Mariya Muzychuk, and GM Nino Batsiashvili. The closest we got to a draw was Harika vs. Yip, but the Indian grandmaster ground out the rook endgame to win in 118 moves.

Round two starts on Wednesday, June 11, at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST / 10:30 p.m. IST.

Cairns Cup Round 1 Results

Half of the field leads the tournament. A remarkable, fast pace has been set on the first day.

Cairns Cup Standings After Round 1 

The Cairns Cup, one of the strongest women's events in the world, brings 10 players to St. Louis. Over the next nine days (and possibly 10, if tiebreaks are needed), they will play a round-robin with a classical time control.

The players represent seven countries. Returning players are Tan (played and won in 2024), Humpy (won in 2020, played in 2023) Muzychuk (2020, 2024), Yip (2020), and Lee (2024). The two OGs, who have played in every iteration since 2019, are Dzagnidze and Harika.

Players making their debut are world number-19 Batsiashvili; Assaubayeva, who has already achieved the grandmaster title requirements and is awaiting title confirmation; and Kashlinskaya, who earned her second GM norm by winning the 2024 Tbilisi FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The latter two won their games in round one.

The players compete for their share of the $250,000 prize fund, the largest in the event's history. The international masters also play for GM norms.

Tan 0-1 Kashlinskaya

Kashlinskaya scored her first-ever win against Tan, delivering a tough blow to the defending champion. You take the point any which way, but a win with the black pieces is just the cherry on top. She also explained that it's a great start for more than chess reasons. The Polish IM is in St. Louis with her mother and son, and they made a deal that if she wins a game, she can buy him a toy. "So far, so good!" she exclaimed.

So far, so good!

—Alina Kashlinskaya 

"I think Tan played a bit slowly," Kashlinskaya explained about the game, "like how she prepared this g4, she probably should have played sharper." She suggested White should push g4 sooner, and indeed, 20.g4? was a decisive mistake. Two moves later, with the powerful 21...b5! retort, Kashlinskaya took over the initiative and never let it go.

That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below:

Assaubayeva 1-0 Muzychuk

Assaubayeva won even quicker, in 27 moves. It was the first and most convincing result of the day. Muzychuk surprised her with a Caro-Kann Defense, and Assaubayeva confessed that she forgot the opening moves after around move six. 

It seems Muzychuk also confused something in the opening, as her pawn break 11...c5?! was mistimed, and pretty soon she was in a dead-lost position. The Kazakh GM-elect had an opportunity to play a brilliancy with a double knight sacrifice, but her move 14.Qa4 was still winning. And she gave not a single chance for Black to survive.

Humpy 1-0 Dzagnidze

Humpy won the most chaotic game against Dzagnidze, the second seed. The Indian grandmaster got the advantage quickly in the opening after 14...Rd8?. By the time black king got to e7, Humpy said the game got "interesting."

There was plenty of back and forth. Humpy explained that after Black's 21...Rdf8?!, "I felt I was having counterchances. Always my plan was to somewhere play Ne5 and demolish this position, to have this king in the center." She also said, about attacking in the game, "For me, material doesn't matter because I was already in a situation where I need to play for activity."

For me, material doesn't matter...

—Koneru Humpy

It was truly a game with three results possible. Even close to the end, Black could have won if, with about two minutes, she found the stunning computer move 26...Qd6!!, stepping directly into a discovered attack with no fear.

Lee 1-0 Batsiashvili

Lee said that they got a "very equal position" out of the opening, but the American IM managed to reach a rook endgame with an extra pawn. It should have been defensible with accurate play, but it also took just one mistake for the evaluation to swing in White's favor. The mistake 27...Ke4?? was understandable, as it looked active, but in fact it allowed White to create a passed pawn on the queenside unbothered.

By this point, there were four decisive results. Asked about the fighting spirit of the day, Lee said, "I think it just shows that everybody here is playing fighting chess and there are not going to be any quick draws. And, of course, there is a no draw rule."

I think it just shows that everybody here is playing fighting chess. 

—Alice Lee

Harika 1-0 Yip

In the longest game of the round, Harika had a chance to win with the good knight vs. bad bishop endgame. After missing some winning chances, she said when she played 87.Nf4+, allowing the minor piece trade, it was only because she wasn't sure if they were approaching move 50. Harika said, "She kept defending really well, she kept finding resources really well, so it's been a task to convert this position."

It's been a task to convert this position.

—Harika Dronavalli

The pure rook endgame should have been holdable for Black, but Harika went for one last try with the interesting pawn sacrifice 93.e5!?. She said, "Luckily, when she gave me this chance I played e5 and I think it's not so easy to play for Black."

When Yip tried to defend actively, sacrificing a pawn in return, it backfired. As commentator WGM Katerina Nemcova put it, "Once you get a chance to get some active play, you go for it, but very often that's the way to blunder." When she played 97.Re8+, Harika knew she was winning.

It's a setback for Yip, who resides in St. Louis and has dedicated herself to earning the Cairns Chess Queens Award, a $100,000 check for the first five American women who achieve the GM title before June of 2029. That being said, there are still eight rounds to go.

Curiously, none of the players on one point will face each other in the next round. So we have the potential for any of five players to end up on 2/2, something rare for a round-robin. You can see the round two pairings below.

The 2025 Cairns Cup, taking place from June 10-20 in St. Louis, is one of the strongest women's tournaments in the world. The event is a 10-player round-robin with a classical time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. The event features a $250,000 prize fund.