Cairns Cup: Five wins in round 1

by Johannes Fischer
6/11/2025 – The Cairns Cup in Saint Louis, one of the strongest women’s tournaments of the year, began with a promising start: all five games in the first round ended decisively. There were also a few minor surprises. Alice Lee (pictured), the youngest participant at just 15 years old and number 10 seed, scored a convincing victory against Nino Batsiashvili. Meanwhile, top seed and 2024 Cairns Cup winner Tan Zhongyi suffered a setback, losing with the white pieces to Alina Kashlinskaya after landing in a difficult position as early as move 21. | Photo: Tournament page
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Tan, entering the tournament as defending champion and first seed, had a rough start. In a well-known variation of the French Defense, she might have forgotten her preparation and after a dubious novelty soon found herself in a losing position. Kashlinskaya capitalized on the advantage without much difficulty.

Alice Lee’s game was less turbulent. In a line of the Queen’s Gambit, she reached a rook endgame with an extra pawn after an inaccuracy by her opponent, Nino Batsiashvili. Although the position was objectively drawn, Batsiashvili was unable to hold it.

Bibisara Assaubayeva won quickly against Mariya Muzychuk in a sharp line of the Caro-Kann Defense, taking advantage of Muzychuk’s failure to bring her king to safety.

Humpy Koneru and Nana Dzagnidze played a sharp and dynamic game, with chances for both sides. In the end, it was Koneru who had the better of it.

The longest game of the day was between Harika Dronavalli and Carissa Yip. After 118 moves Dronavalli won in a rook endgame.

Results

Standings

Games

Tournament page

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Topics: Alice Lee, Alina Kashlinskaya
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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60m English The Elephant Gambit

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.