On the eighth game day of the Cairns Cup 2026 super tournament in the USA, Bibisara Assaubayeva lost with black pieces to the 16th world champion Tan Zhongyi from China. Before the final round, the Kazakh grandmaster shares third place with American Carissa Yip. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The match between 22-year-old Assaubayeva and the leading Tan Zhongyi was key to the distribution of places. The 35-year-old Chinese player, who held the chess crown for two years (2017-2018), was helped by vast experience in tournament play.

Our chess player, conducting a sharp counterplay with black, desperately tried to catch the eminent opponent on the countermove. The Kazakh's passed pawn reached the third rank. However, the Chinese woman's mating threats on the opposite side of the board proved more serious. As a result, the native of Chongqing brought the game to victory on the 48th move.

After losing, Assaubayeva conceded second place to American Alice Lee, who defeated current crown contender Vaishali Rameshbabu from India with black.

Third place with Bibisara is shared by another US representative, Carissa Yip, who beat Stavroula Tsolakidou from Greece with white. Earlier, Yip and our chess player played down to bare kings.

In the ninth round, Assaubayeva will play with white against Humpy Koneru from India. Tan Zhongyi will face Tsolakidou with black. Lee and Yip will meet in an American derby.

The prestigious women's super tournament Cairns Cup with a prize fund of $250,000 is taking place in St. Louis (Missouri), the Mecca of American chess.

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

Ten chess players who received personal invitations from the organizers play in a single round-robin. Time control is classical. In case of a tie in points, a playoff in the rapid chess format is planned.

In parallel, the men's tournament Sinquefield Cup 2026 is taking place in St. Louis, also named after Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield.

The competition with a prize fund of $475,000 features Javokhir Sindarov, a contender for the chess crown and boyfriend of our Assaubayeva. In the eighth round, the Uzbek grandmaster won his second consecutive victory. Underdog Jorden van Foreest from the Netherlands, playing with black pieces, resigned on the 56th move.