Humpy Leads After All-Decisive Round 6

After a rest day, the players returned to the Cairns Cup 2025 ready to fight in round six. Every game was decisive, and the bloodbath left GM Koneru Humpy on top. She defeated her co-leader and countrywoman GM Harika Dronavalli, while the other co-leader, IM Alice Lee, lost a miniature against GM-elect Bibisara Assaubayeva.

IM Alina Kashlinskaya jumped into second after beating GM Mariya Muzychuk. Scoring her second win in a row, IM Carissa Yip beat the top seed, GM Tan Zhongyi. Finally, GM Nana Dzagnidze bounced back from two consecutive losses with a win against fellow Georgian GM Nino Batsiashvili.

Round seven starts on Tuesday, June 17, at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST / 10:30 p.m. IST.

Humpy leads, Kashlinskaya trails, while three players follow after that.

Cairns Cup Standings After Round 6

Humpy 1-0 Harika

Humpy won a 76-move marathon, the longest game of the day—and the most important. On the surface, her opening preparation led to winning the exchange by move 15, and she converted the advantage. But the level of resistance, as she attested, was incredible.

Humpy said she knew she was better "once I got this [14.]c4, [but] okay what she played was quite interesting." She added, "At some point it was also quite dangerous for White. I think I haven't played the most accurate way." She was up to the task of converting it accurately, however, but she explained with an example: "It was kind of a dangerous position where you need to find very important moves or the position will turn around, and I think [28.]e6 is one such move." (We will see that the e6-square was key in two other games: Kashlinskaya vs. Muzychuk and Dzagnidze vs. Batsiashvili.)

... you need to find very important moves or the position will turn around.

—Koneru Humpy

Even in the endgame, when Black had a far-advanced passed d-pawn, the win was never easy. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the dazzling Game of the Day below, uncovering its various twists and turns and chances for the other side.

Just like that, Humpy is in the sole lead. Her reaction to the sudden shakeup was: "It feels good, but still three more rounds to go. It's quite challenging."

It feels good, but still three more rounds to go.

—Koneru Humpy

Assaubayeva 1-0 Lee

Expectations were high for Assaubayeva going into the tournament, as she'd just completed the grandmaster title in May. Though she'd won her first round, she scored just one point in the next four games. The Kazakh grandmaster-elect played the role of spoiler against one of the tournament leaders, Lee, who suffered her first loss.

She said she's finally happy to win a game with the white pieces, after having spoiled advantages against Tan and Kashlinskaya in earlier rounds.

Assaubayeva, who's better known for playing 1.d4, started with the King's Pawn Opening. In fact, she revealed she was expecting 1...e5 with a Petroff Defense, but instead Lee went for the Sicilian. The key turning point is when Black played 12...Rb8 and 13...a6; Assaubayeva realized her opponent was planning to win the pawn with 14...Nc6, and she set the trap.

15.Ned5! solved the problem tactically, and Lee fell apart in the next two moves—the losing move being 16...f6?. The position was completely resignable on move 20, as Black was losing a rook, though it lasted another five moves.

Kashlinskaya 1-0 Muzychuk

"I think I surprised Mariya in the opening," said Kashlinskaya, "I guess she didn't expect the Reti, which I had the whole day to prepare." She correctly pointed out that Muzychuk chose a bad line with 5...c5?, as White got a Benko Gambit with some extra tempi. On top of the objective evaluation, the Polish IM said, "I felt that it's my type of position."

Though the position got messy after 15.Rae1?! and 16.e3?, Kashlinskaya regained the advantage after her opponent's blunder, 24...Bxc4? 25.Rd1!. The e6-square was key, just as it was in Humpy's game. 27.e6! was a beautiful line-opening tactic and the only winning move; the threat of mate on the long diagonal caused Muzychuk to give up the exchange.

White went on to win with the extra material, though there was one moment in the endgame, on move 48, where Black could have held the draw with a study-like solution.

Tan 0-1 Yip

Tan employed the Jobava London System in this game, surprising Yip right in the opening. But the American IM said, "I was feeling a little quirky, I guess, so I went for this ...a6 ...g6 [idea]." Yip could have gotten in huge trouble in the opening if Tan had found the powerful 9.0-0! resource, but after Tan's 9.Nd2?! Black was in the game. Yip narrated what happened next:

I definitely wasn't feeling good out of the opening. She had a huge time advantage, but after 14...Nd7 suddenly two of her pawns are hanging. And when I took on h4, I was pretty sure I had some counterplay for my totally closed-in queenside, and then the game just kind of got a little out of hand after that.

After the decisive mistake, 21.Bc4?, Yip drove her h-pawn down the board and had a decisive attack. 28...Nde5! was a nice exchange sacrifice "that suddenly freed up all of my pieces," as she explained.

Yip said that, during the rest day, she had ice cream with Lee, which has become a sort of tradition for the two friends. She also mentioned that she had brunch with Tan!

Dzagnidze 1-0 Batsiashvili

We had a sharp battle in the encounter between the two Georgians, but the chaotic middlegame eventually fizzed out to an endgame where White was pressing. Just as Batsiashvili seemed to be squeezing out of the trouble, however, she blundered and resigned at once, a cold shower and a third loss for the three-time national champion.

Dzagnidze explained, "I think I was pressing most of the game, but I didn't see a clear plan. Like, I had an advantage, but like a clear plan to win the game I didn't see. So I was pushing, pushing, but somehow I couldn't find [it] and then she blundered."

Dzagnidze explained that she was highly sensitive to the e6-square, as she'd just blundered a tactic against Yip on this square the previous round (as you can see in the screenshot below). The curse of e6 has become the gift!

That result leaves Dzagnidze on 2.5/6, while Batsiashvili is a point behind that and in last place.

Yip will have the white pieces against the tournament leader, a perfect opportunity to continue the comeback. Lee, on the other hand, will take on second-place Kashlinskaya.

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.

Previous coverage:

• Round 5: Yip Grinds Out 2nd Win; 3 Leaders Remain
• Round 4: Humpy, Harika Catch Lee In Shared Lead
• Round 3: Yip Picks Up 1st Win
• Round 2: Alice Lee Takes Sole Lead On Perfect 2/2
• Round 1: All-Decisive Round Ends With 5 Early Leaders