Women's Speed Chess Grand Prix Leg 1 Results
GMs Anna Ushenina beat GM Valentina Gunina 7-4 in the final of the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix's first leg.
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk had defeated Vaishali Rameshbabu 7-4 in a match for third place held just before the final. A total of four Grand Prix legs will be played June 24-July 19.
Ushenina beat WGM Vaishali Rameshbabu 5.5-4.5 in the first semifinal, and then Gunina eliminated her compatriot GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 9-3.
See our full report on the finals here.
Grand Prix Leg 1 Finals Schedule
| Date | Pacific Time | Time | Fed | Title | Player | Title | Player | Fed | |
| June 28 | 5:30 a.m. | 14:30 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 7-4 | WGM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | ||
| June 28 | 7:00 a.m. | 16:00 | GM | Valentina Gunina | 4-7 | GM | Anna Ushenina |
The games of the Grand Prix events are played on the Chess.com Live Server, at www.chess.com/live. All matches are broadcast live with chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV.
Grand Prix Leg 1 Semifinal Results
| Date | Pacific Time | Time | Fed | Title | Player | Title | Player | Fed | |
| June 26 | 5:30 a.m. | 14:30 | GM | GM Anna Ushenina | 5.5-4.5 | WGM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | ||
| June 26 | 7:00 a.m. | 16:00 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 3-9 | GM | Valentina Gunina |
Grand Prix Leg 1, Day 2 Results
| Date | Pacific Time | Time | Title | Player | Title | Player | |||
| June 25 | 5:30 AM | 14:30 | GM | Kateryna Lagno | 4-6 | GM | Anna Ushenina | ||
| June 25 | 5:30 AM | 14:30 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 7-3 | WGM | Le Thao Nguyen Pham | ||
| June 25 | 7:00 AM | 16:00 | WIM | Munkhzul Turmunkh | 3.5-7.5 | WGM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | ||
| June 25 | 7:00 AM | 16:00 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 3.5-7.5 | GM | Valentina Gunina |
GMs Kateryna Lagno, Anna Ushenina, Ju Wenjun, Valentina Gunina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, WGMs Le Thao Nguyen Pham and Vaishali Rameshbabu, and WIM Munkhzul Turmunkh won their round of 16 matches on Wednesday.
Grand Prix Leg 1, Day 1 Results
| Date | PDT Time |
CEST Time |
Fed | Player | Fed | Player | |
| June 24 | 5:30 a.m. | 14:30 | GM Kateryna Lagno | 8-3 | WIM Ning Kaiyu | ||
| June 24 | 5:30 a.m. | 14:30 | IM Zhansaya Abdumalik | 2-9 | GM Anna Ushenina | ||
| June 24 | 5:30 a.m. | 14:30 | GM Ju Wenjun | 7.5-3.5 | WGM Bibisara Assaubayeva | ||
| June 24 | 5:30 a.m. | 14:30 | GM Humpy Koneru | 4.5-5.5 | WGM Le Thao Nguyen Pham | ||
| June 24 | 7:00 a.m. | 16:00 | GM Anna Muzychuk | 4.5-5.5 | WIM Munkhzul Turmunkh | ||
| June 24 | 7:00 a.m. | 16:00 | GM Antoaneta Stefanova | 5-6 | WGM Vaishali R | ||
| June 24 | 7:00 a.m. | 16:00 | GM Valentina Gunina | 8.5-3.5 | WGM Tatev Abrahamyan | ||
| June 24 | 7:00 a.m. | 16:00 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk | 11-0 | IM Gunay Mammadzada |
The qualifier phase ended on Tuesday with the sixth and final qualifier. Two tournaments with a 5+1 time control were played, two with 3+1, and two with 1+1. Each tournament was followed by an eight-player knockout, and the top two qualified.
The 12 players who qualified are Tatev Abrahamyan (U.S.), Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan), Deysi Cori (Peru), Harika Dronavalli (India), Olga Girya (Russia), Valentina Gunina (Russia), Le Thao Nguyen Pham (Vietnam), Gunay Mammadzada (Azerbaijan), Vaishali Rameshbabu (India), Munkhzul Turmunkh (Mongolia), Ning Kaiyu (China), and Anna Ushenina (Ukraine).
The Grand Prix will consist of four legs with a total of 21 participants. Each of the 21 players participates in three of the four legs.
Alongside the 12 qualifiers, FIDE and Chess.com invited nine women as seeded players: Hou Yifan (China), Ju Wenjun (China), Kateryna Lagno (Russia), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), Irina Krush (U.S.), Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan), Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iran), and Humpy Koneru (India).
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich selected Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) to be the Women's Speed Chess Championship wild card. She will take part in just one of the Grand Prix legs.
Each leg is a 16-player knockout and will last five days (including one rest day after the semi-finals). The dates will be June 24-28, July 1-5, July 8-12, and July 15-19, with games starting at 5:30 a.m. Pacific time / 14:30 Central Europe.
Allocation of players (X = not playing)
| # | Fed | Name | Rating | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 |
| 1 | Kateryna Lagno | 2608 | X | ||||
| 2 | Hou Yifan | 2601 | X | ||||
| 3 | Ju Wenjun | 2536 | X | ||||
| 4 | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2521 | X | ||||
| 5 | Anna Muzychuk | 2505 | X | ||||
| 6 | Humpy Koneru | 2483 | X | ||||
| 7 | Valentina Gunina | 2476 | X | ||||
| 8 | Sarasadat Khademalsharieh | 2431 | X | ||||
| 9 | Harika Dronavalli | 2422 | X | ||||
| 10 | Zhansaya Abdumalik | 2409 | X | ||||
| 11 | Deysi Cori | 2391 | X | ||||
| 12 | Anna Ushenina | 2387 | X | ||||
| 13 | Tatev Abrahamyan | 2352 | X | ||||
| 14 | Irina Krush | 2342 | X | ||||
| 15 | Le Thao Nguyen Pham | 2325 | X | ||||
| 16 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 2313 | X | ||||
| 17 | Olga Girya | 2297 | X | ||||
| 18 | Gunay Mammadzada | 2242 | X | ||||
| 19 | Munkhzul Turmunkh | 2235 | X | ||||
| 20 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 2232 | X | ||||
| 21 | Ning Kaiyu | 2013 | X | ||||
| Wildcard | Antoaneta Stefanova | 2485 | X | X | X |
All matches in each Grand Prix leg are divided into three segments:
- 30-minute segment of matches with the time control 5 minutes + 1 second per move
- 30-minute segment of matches with the time control 3 minutes + 1 second per move
- 10-minute segment of matches with the time control 1 minute + 1 second per move
In each leg, every player scores cumulative Grand Prix points according to her position in the final standings (for details, please the check full tournament regulations). The two players who score the highest points in all three legs qualify for the Super Final.
Each one of the Grand Prix legs has a total prize fund of $10,300 with $3,000 going to the winner.
The the world number-one-rated blitz player, Lagno first plays the lowest-rated opponent in the field, 15-year-old Ning of China. Although with a rating of 2013 in blitz (probably due to a lack of rated events played), she should not be underestimated. Recently Ning won the online Asian Girls Championship.
The women's world champion, GM Ju, is playing her first event since the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup where she scored a solid, undefeated 3.5/5. She plays against 16-year-old Assaubayeva, Kazakhstan's third player behind IM Dinara Saduakassova and IM Zhansaya Abdumalik.
Russia's Gunina entered the Grand Prix stage in dramatic fashion. Having missed several qualifications in the first five Playoff Qualifiers, she finally managed to secure a spot in the sixth and final one.
Her opponent, Abrahamyan, also came from the last qualifier. The American WGM was streaming her play, and when she finished among the top eight, she tweeted: "Going to try my luck in the bullet portion of women’s SCC qualifier. Come watch me blunder all my pieces away."
Qualified!! 🥳🥳 https://t.co/JOXMbedmST
— Tatev Abrahamyan (@Tatev__A) June 23, 2020
All FIDE Women's Speed Chess Championship matches will be broadcast live with chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV. More information about the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship can be found here.
