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5th Cairns Cup R3: Carissa Yip swindles Nino Batsiashvili

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/06/2025

IM Carissa Yip (USA) swindled GM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO) in Round 3 of 5th Cairns Cup 2025. The Georgian GM made an interesting knight sacrifice and could have won the game, if she spotted the correct continuation. A few mistakes allowed the American to turn things around and score the sole victory of the day. GMs Harika Dronavalli and Koneru Humpy played well contested draws against GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) and IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL) respectively. IM Alice Lee (USA) drew against GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) to maintain her sole lead 2.5/3. Round 4 starts today at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

Alice stays ahead

GM Koneru Humpy, GM Harika Dronavalli and IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL) are trailing the sole leader by a half point at 2/3 each.

IM Carissa Yip (USA) is delighted to win against GM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO) | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

Harika - Mariya: 0.5-0.5

The last Classical decisive game between GM Harika Dronavalli (2483) and GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR, 2492) occurred a little over 5.5 years ago. Since then, they six draws. The seventh one was this one.

GM Harika Dronavalli - GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club
Interview with IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL) | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

GM Koneru Humpy - IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

Carissa - Nino

Position after 29...Nxf2!

GM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO, 2462) made an interesting knight sacrifice 29...Nxf2!? 30.Kxf2 Qh2+ now 31.Kf1 Qh1+ leads to a draw by perpetual check. IM Carissa Yip (USA, 2431) went for 31.Ke3?? Qxb2-+ would have been winning for Black 32.Rd3 Qg2 33.Qg4 Rf4! Black missed her chance when she went 31...Qxg3? 32.Rf1 g5? 33.Ke2 g4?? 34.Rg1+- now it's over for Black.

Interview with IM Carissa Yip (USA) | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

IM Carissa Yip (USA) managed to turn things around against GM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO) | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club
Interview with IM Alice Lee (USA) | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

IM Alice Lee (USA) - GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) - GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay live stream

Replay Round 3 live commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan (USA), IMs Nazi Paikidze (USA) and Almira Skripchenko (FRA), and WGM Katerina Nemcova (USA) | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Round 3 results

IM Carissa Yip (USA) scored the sole win of the round | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Standings after Round 3

IM Alice Lee is still in sole lead 2.5/3 | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Round 4 pairings

Round 4 pairings | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Schedule

Every day Round starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. Only rest day is on Sunday 15th June 2025.

Schedule | Source: Official site

Total prize fund

The total prize fund is US$ 250000. The top three prizes are $60000, $50000 and $40000.

Prize details | Source: Official site

Format

It is a round-robin event with a Classical time control of 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

Saint Louis Chess Club: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube


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