Cairns Cup: Tournament victory and GM norm for Carissa Yip

by Johannes Fischer
6/20/2025 – Carissa Yip kept her nerves! With a draw against Alice Lee in the final round of the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis, she secured both the tournament victory and a GM norm. If Lee had won the game, she would have taken first place, but the draw was enough for her to finish second. The youngest participants, and the 9th and 10th seeds—Carissa Yip and Alice Lee—won gold and silver in Saint Louis. Third place went to Harika Dronavalli. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club
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Carissa Yip only needed a draw in the final round to win the tournament, but she still played for a win. Alice Lee ran into trouble early in the opening and tried to save the position with a defensive queen sacrifice. This forced her to defend a difficult position for a long time, but she managed to hold, and after 98 moves, the game ended in a draw.

Even after a long and tough game, Carissa Yip and Alice Lee still seem in good spirits. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

Alice Lee | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

Third place went to Harika Dronavalli, who drew with White against Alina Kashlinskaya in the final round.

Harika Dronavalli | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

The game between Nana Dzagnidze and Tan Zhongyi also ended in a draw, leaving Tan - the top seed - as the only player in Saint Louis without a win.

The tournament ended disappointingly for Humpy Koneru as well. After seven rounds, she had been tied for first place with Carissa Yip and Alice Lee. But after a loss to Nino Batsiashvili in round 8, she also lost in round 9 to Mariya Muzychuk, following a mistake in a rook endgame. She finished with 4.5 out of 9, tying for fourth to seventh place.

Bibisara Assaubayeva also scored 4.5 out of 9, winning her final-round game against Nino Batsiashvili.

Results

Final standings

Games

Tournament page

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Topics: Cairns Cup 2025, Carissa Yip
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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