The latest game day of the super tournaments in the USA was victorious for Bibisara Asaubayeva and her boyfriend Javokhir Sindarov. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The Kazakh player beat Stavroula Tsolakidou of Greece, while the Uzbek defeated Vincent Keymer of Germany.
In the game against the Greek representative, our three-time world champion in blitz showed her best. In a queen endgame, Asaubayeva, playing white, conducted a perfect attack. After a rook check to the black king, the international master acknowledged her obvious defeat (see diagram).
Having secured her second victory 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), playing black, forced Women's World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh of India to resign on move 41. The other two games ended in draws.
The Chinese-Kazakh clash in round 8 will be key for the final distribution of prize places. Asaubayeva will have the black pieces. In the 9th and final round, Bibisara will play white against Humpy Koneru of India. Tan Zhongyi will face Tsolakidou with black.
The prestigious women's super tournament, the 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 and a member of the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Ten players who received personal invitations from the organizers play in 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.