The WR Women's Chess Tour 2026 is a new international tournament series for leading female players, comprising four stops on four continents: Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe. Each stop features knockout tournaments in rapid and blitz, with both disciplines counting towards qualification. The two most successful players at each stop qualify for the Grand Final, which will be held in Stuttgart on 22 and 23 November. There, eight players will compete in a knockout tournament for the overall title and a prize fund of US$40,000.
Current finalists for Stuttgart
The final two places are being decided in St Tropez.
The two finalists in the rapid tournament, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Mariya Muzychuk, are in the best position. Today they can collect further points in the combined standings and thus secure one of the two places in Stuttgart. Assaubayeva won the final against Muzychuk 2-0. Before that, she needed to win Armageddon deciders both in the semifinal against Nino Batsiashvili and in the quarterfinal against Elisabeth Paehtz.
New German Chess Federation President Paul Meyer-Dunker makes the ceremonial first move in the game between Bibisara Assaubayeva and Elisabeth Paehtz | Photo: WR Chess
For the German national team player, the event in the south of France is surely also an opportunity to gain match practice ahead of the Olympiad in Samarkand. Paehtz held her own well against the Kazakh player: both regular rapid games reached rook endgames. In the first game, Paehtz managed to create counterchances from a worse position, but Assaubayeva eventually won the double-rook endgame. In the next game, Paehtz won with black by converting her advantageous position from an endgame with four rooks into a winning endgame with one rook each.
Paehtz lost to Assaubayeva in the Armageddon game | Photo: WR Chess
Paehtz had White in the subsequent Armageddon game. She was unable to make use of her time advantage of 10 minutes against 7:45. Assaubayeva quickly obtained the better position, and after a mistake on move 18, Paehtz resigned just three moves later.
The winner again showed strong nerves in the following round, eliminating Nino Batsiashvili as Black in another Armageddon. She then won the final convincingly, 2-0, against Mariya Muzychuk, who had previously beaten Eline Roebers 1½-½ and then defeated Humpy Koneru in an Armageddon semifinal – Koneru having earlier knocked Mariya's sister Anna out of the event.
Mariya Muzychuk (right) lost the final to Bibisara Assaubayeva and finished second. Here she is pictured alongside Nino Batsiashvili, Deimante Daulyte-Cornette and Humpy Koneru (from left) | Photo: WR Chess
Blitz schedule (3+2) on 26 August:
Round - Time
1.1 - 15:00
1.2 - 15:15
1.3 - 15:30
1.4 - 15:45
1.5 - 16:00
2.1 - 16:30
2.2 - 16:45
2.3 - 17:00
2.4 - 17:15
2.5 - 17:30
3.1 - 18:00
3.2 - 18:15
3.3 - 18:30
3.4 - 18:45
3.5 - 19:00
Eight players compete in a knockout rapid tournament on Tuesday, 25 August, from 14:00, followed by the blitz tournament on Wednesday, 26 August, from 14:00. Each rapid pairing consists of two games, while the blitz pairings consist of four games each. If the score is tied, an Armageddon game will follow.
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