7/14/2025 – 107 players started in the Women's World Cup, but only 32 of them made it to round three. With the exception of Aleksandra Goryachkina, the top favorites remain in the field. The top Chinese players Lei Tingjie, Zhu Jiner, and Tan Zhongyi all advanced comfortably to the fourth round without needing a tiebreak. However, players like Anna Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Harika Dronavalli will have to win their tiebreaks to advance to round four. | Photos: Anna Shtourman
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
The Alapin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.c3) offers a simple yet highly effective solution to all major Sicilian lines, by sidestepping them with 2.c3.
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Top favourite Lei Tingjie easily reached the fourth round of the Women's World Cup with two victories against former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Zhu Jiner and Mariya Muzychuk achieved the same result against Aleksandra Maltsevskaya and Bella Khotenashvili respectively.
In her game against Stefanova, Tingjie did not take any major risks, yet still built a solid, superior position against her opponent's Pirc Defence, winning the game with surprising ease.
Lei Tingjie
Tan Zhongyi, the third player in the Chinese trio of favourites, drew her first game against Irina Bulmaga. Following her victory in the second round, she will join her compatriots in the next round.
Humpy Koneru started the third round with a draw against Klaudia Kulon, then winning her second game on Sunday. The Indian player is therefore also through to the fourth round.
Meruert Kamalidenova was the standout player of the second round after eliminating one of the favourites, Aleksandra Goryachkina. The Kazakh's winning streak continues. Her first game against the strong young Russian player, Anna Shukhman, ended in a draw. However, on Sunday, Kamalidenova won her second game and also reached the fourth round.
Interview with Meruert Kamalidenova
Umida Omonova also drew against Elnaz Kaliahmet before winning the second game. With this result, Leila Javakishvili also reached round four against the slight favourite Polina Shuvalova.
Divya Deshmukh won the first game against Teodora Injac and secured her place in round four with a draw in the second game.
Interview with Divya Deshmukh
Yuliia Osmak knocked out 15-year-old Chinese prodigy Lu Miaoyi with the same result.
Five of the 16 matches will continue in the play-offs on Monday. In the match between Agrawal Vantikai and Kateryna Lagno, Agrawal took the lead and Lagno equalised on Sunday.
Agrawal and Lagno
The match between Nana Dzagnidze and Valentina Gunina followed a similar pattern. After losing the first game, the Gunina had to win and played very aggressively with White against Dzagnidze's Caro-Kann defence — with success.
Meri Arabidze drew twice against Alexandra Kosteniuk, Anna Muzychuk drew twice against Yuxin Song, Harika Dronavalli drew twice against Stavroula Tsolakidou, and Vaishali also drew twice against Carissa Yip.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
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