GM Tan Zhongyi was topped because the winner and can obtain the $50,000 first prize after a fast draw with GM Alexandra Kosteniuk secured her a 6/9 rating within the last spherical of the Cairns Cup 2024 on Saturday.
GM Anna Muzychuk completed on a excessive notice by defeating IM Alice Lee and claimed $40,000 for outright second whereas attracts on the remaining boards led to a four-way tie for third amongst GMs Alexandra Kosteniuk, Harika Dronavalli, Nana Dzagnidze, and Mariya Muzychuk. Every will obtain a $19,000 payout for third-sixth locations.
Spherical 9 Outcomes
Closing Standings
TAN ZHONGYI IS THE 2024 CAIRNS CUP CHAMPION!!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳
She had by no means received a super-tournament earlier than! Now she’s received two in a row!!! 🤯
📷: STL Chess Membership / Lennart Ootes#chess #womeninchess #CairnsCup https://t.co/IELioODrEI pic.twitter.com/AcZf6pd4ll
— Girls’s Chess Protection (@OnTheQueenside) June 22, 2024
A 30-minute, 19-move draw between Tan and Kosteniuk introduced the fourth version of the Cairns Cup to a detailed, and the winner spent most of her afternoon taking images with patrons Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield and Rex Sinquefield. This was Tan’s first-ever super-GM match victory, and she or he additionally reached a brand new FIDE score excessive of 2545.
With three wins and 6 attracts to her identify and a lead that lasted from begin to end, Tan appeared to have cruised via the match; nevertheless, she revealed that issues weren’t so simple as they appeared. “The method was way more harmful for me than it regarded. For a number of video games I used to be having to combat for the draw, particularly yesterday. That was actually difficult.”
The method was way more harmful for me than it regarded.
 —Tan Zhongyi
Tan’s full post-match interview, the place Lee’s mum acted as a translator, provides extra perception into her match.
Submit-Cairns Cup, Tan has set some lofty objectives for herself, together with working towards the 2600 FIDE-rating mark in addition to trying to wrest the ladies’s world championship title again from her compatriot GM Ju Wenjun in 2025.
Kosteniuk was not solely pleased to attract with Black however might have lastly performed a sport worthy of the calm, balanced model she had hoped to show. The ultimate place, with queens nonetheless on the board and an nearly symmetrical pawn construction, is an image of peace.
With the profitable spot snapped up by Tan early within the spherical, second place grew to become the ambition of the 4 gamers in rivalry for the place. If one among these gamers had been capable of win and the others draw, she would obtain $21,000 greater than the others. The participant who managed to realize this was Anna Muzychuk.
A gritty win from the white facet of the Petroff Protection towards Lee allowed Muzychuk to complete on a excessive notice, and her technical rook endgame play makes this sport a becoming selection for the Recreation of the Day. Try GM Rafael Leitao‘s evaluation under.
The one different participant who got here near profitable her sport and becoming a member of Muzychuk in second was Harika, who missed a small window of alternative the place she may have established some authority in her sport towards GM Elisabeth Paehtz.Â
Paehtz as soon as once more performed the Closed Catalan, however her round-nine sport took on a distinct form to her earlier video games within the opening. Buying and selling straight into an ending, piece placement and pawn weaknesses grew to become the important thing themes of the encounter. Harika then declined the chance to snap up one among Paehtz’s free pawns, and when the gamers determined they might not make progress, they repeated strikes.
GM Irina Krush and IM Anna Zatonskih did not handle to search out wins on this 12 months’s Cairns Cup, though Krush did possess a small edge towards the 2023 winner at completely different factors of a queen and rook ending. Because the gamers drew shut to maneuver 40, it grew to become evident that neither was thinking about prolonging the duel with their time dwindling under two minutes and, thus, additionally repeated strikes.
The mid-year match fiesta doesn’t cease with the conclusion of the Cairns Cup, and a spotlight will swiftly transfer to the primary leg of the Grand Chess Tour, the Superbet Romania Traditional which can characteristic an illustrious lineup, together with GMs Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh Dommaraju, and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
Prizes
The 2024 Cairns Cup is without doubt one of the strongest ladies’s tournaments on the planet. The occasion was a 10-player round-robin with a classical time management (120 minutes for your entire sport, plus a 30-second increment per transfer). The 2024 Cairns Cup ran from June 13 to June 22 and featured a $200,000 prize fund.
Earlier Protection
