2025 Cairns Cup: Decisive Games All Around

The 2025 Cairns Cup is underway at the St. Louis Chess Club, featuring 10 of the top women’s players in the world, from Tan Zhongyi and Humpy Koneru to American young stars Carissa Yip and Alice Lee.

This tournament is a round robin, and round one on Tuesday saw five decisive games out of five. Four games were won by the White player, and in an upset, Alina Kashlinskaya took down Tan with the black pieces.

There is one rest day after the fifth round, and the final round will be played on Thursday, June 19th, with fast tiebreaks to follow the day after if needed. First place is $60,000, and the total prize fund is $250,000, to be split between the ten players.

Lichess does not carry tournaments by US Chess or the St. Louis Chess Club, so you can follow the tournament on Chessbase, Chess.com, or Youtube.