6/25/2021 – The 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship has reached its final stages. While Kateryna Lagno already made it into the semis after beating Nana Dzagnidze, six more players, including the likes of Hou Yifan and Anna Muzychuk, are set to play their quarterfinal matches on Friday and Monday. The semifinals are scheduled to take place on July 1-2 while the final match will be played on Saturday, July 3.
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 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.
In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike to not giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game.
€39.90
Assaubayeva knocks out Humpy
The International Chess Federation partnered with chess.com to organize the 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship. An online event featuring blitz and bullet chess intends to give all female titled players a chance to fight for their share of a total prize fund of $66,000. The tournament kicked off on May 28 and will come to an end next Saturday, July 3.
Eight qualifier events — with a two-stage format (a Swiss tournament plus a playoff) — were played between May 28 and June 6. One player from each qualifier moved on to the knockout stage, in which they joined eight invited stars from the women’s circuit.
See the full bracket below
A big surprise was already seen in the round-of-16, as 17-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva eliminated Humpy Koneru by a commanding 14½-7½ score. The Khazakhstani IM is the youngest player in the main event, and she made it into the knockout by winning the third qualifier event on May 30.
What’s the easiest way to win a chess game? We all know finding a good tactic in a game can let you win a point immediately. Therefore, Fundamentals of Tactics is an excellent choice for you if you wish to learn how to start finding tactics in your games!
Bibisara Assaubayeva in 2018 | Photo: Amruta Mokal
As the name of the event states, speed is a key factor in the online tournament. The matches for the round-of-16, quarterfinals, and semifinals consist of three segments:
A 75-minute segment with a 5|1 time control
A 45-minute segment with a 3|1 time control
A 25-minute segment with a 1|1 time control
Matches for the final of the main event will consist of three longer segments:
A 90-minute segment with a 5|1 time control
A 60-minute segment with a 3|1 time control
A 30-minute segment with a 1|1 second per move.
In case of a tie, bullet games and a potential Armageddon decide the winner of the match
Assaubayeva will not have it easy in the quarterfinals, as beating the third highest-rated woman player in the world gained her the right to face none other than Hou Yifan, ranked first in the women’s ranking by quite a margin.
Hou also got a clear victory in the round-of-16, as she beat Azerbaijani IM Gulnar Mammadova by a 15-6 score. In the 5+1 section, Hou won a fine game with white out of a French Defence.
The Winawer Variation in just 60 minutes - that can only work by reducing it to a clear repertoire for Black and, where possible, general recommendations rather than variations. Alexei Shirov was surprised at how quickly he managed to make of the French Winawer an opening he himself could play. And now he will let you share in his conclusions.
White is ready to break through — 22.Rxg7 and Black cannot capture the rook due to Bxh6. After 22...Rh8, Hou rerouted her bishop with 23.Bc1 Rb6 24.Ba3. The conversion was easy for White after 24...Qb7
25.Bxe7+ Kxe7 26.Ng6+, forking king and rook, and Black is doomed.
The Chinese star, who will play at the Goldmoney Asian Rapid starting Saturday, confessed:
To be honest, I was busy with my job in the university and also some other projects going on. I am not particularly training myself and not playing too often. It’s a great pleasure to be back!
The first quarterfinal match was played on Thursday, with Kateryna Lagno beating Nana Dzagnidze by a 14-8 score.
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6! leads to the so-called "Accelerated Dragon Defense". On this DVD the Russian grandmaster and top women player Nadezhda Kosintseva reveals the secrets of her favourite opening.
The remaining three matches of the quarterfinals will be played on Friday and Monday.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
€9.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
