An exhibition match in the Freestyle Chess format was staged alongside the World Championship in Weissenhaus, featuring Bibisara Assaubayeva and Alexandra Kosteniuk. The four-game contest was played over the weekend, with two games on Saturday and two on Sunday, using a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move - identical to that employed in the knockout stage of the main championship.
Both players arrived in Germany with strong credentials on the women's circuit. Assaubayeva and Kosteniuk are currently ranked 11th and 13th respectively in the women's classical rating list, and both feature inside the top ten of the women's rapid rankings.
On Saturday, Assaubayeva had the white pieces in the first game, while Kosteniuk opened with white on Sunday. The opening day saw the players exchange wins with the white pieces, leaving the match level at 1–1 after two games.
The match was decided on Sunday without needing tiebreaks. In the first game of the day, Assaubayeva prevailed with the black pieces, defeating her more experienced opponent and moving into the lead. In the fourth and final encounter, she required only a draw to secure overall victory. The game lasted 58 moves and saw Kosteniuk get chances to even the score in an imbalanced endgame.
Kosteniuk had two minor pieces for a rook, but as demonstrated by Assaubayeva's correct defensive technique, this material imbalance was not enough to get realistic winning chances in this setup. The draw was agreed after White's 58th move, giving the 21-year-old Kazakh grandmaster a 2½–1½ match win.
The result earned Assaubayeva a place in the forthcoming FIDE Women's Freestyle Chess World Championship, scheduled to take place later in 2026.
Bibisara Assaubayeva | Photo: Freestyle Ches / Lennart Ootes
This was not Assaubayeva's first involvement in events organised by Freestyle Chess. In July 2025, she competed in the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, where she was the only female participant. On that occasion, she faced a field comprising leading grandmasters and scored ½ point after 7 rounds in the round-robin stage.
Since then, however, she has recorded notable results in classical and blitz chess. At the end of December last year, she claimed her third women's world blitz title in Doha, while last month she scored 7½/13 at the Tata Steel Challengers in Wijk aan Zee, achieving a commendable tournament performance rating of 2605.
Kosteniuk, aged 41, remains a prominent figure in elite women's chess and is currently ranked seventh in the world in the women's rapid list. Her connection to chess960 extends back more than two decades. In 2006, she defeated Elisabeth Paehtz 5½–2½ in Mainz to become the first - albeit unofficial - women's chess960 world champion. She successfully defended that title in 2008 by overcoming Kateryna Lagno 2½–1½.
Alexandra Kosteniuk | Photo: Freestyle Chess / Carlotta Wessel
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