Women World Chess Cup 2025: All news / Live games / Round 1 pairings

This is the Round 1, Game 1, Board 1 match from FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 featuring IM Carissa Yip taking on WFM Hannah Wilson

IM Carissa Yip – WFM Hannah Wilson, FIDE World Chess Cup 2025

More from the FIDE World Cup

“It is an honor to once again welcome some of the world’s top female players to Saint Louis,” said Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, co-founder of the Saint Louis Chess Club. “Through events like the Cairns Cup, we aim to create greater opportunities for females in chess and inspire the next generation to compete, achieve, and lead in this timeless game.”

Live games from Cairns Cup 2025 will be daily on Chessdom, while additional news can be found in the Chessdom Newsletter – you can sign up for free in the form below.

Cairns Cup 2025 participants

See the Women Top 100 rating list here

Historical winners of Cairns Cup

2019: Valentina Gunina
2020: Humpy Koneru
2023: Anna Zatonskih
2024: Tan Zhongyi

More about Cairns Cup

Launched in 2024 and running through July 4, 2029, the Saint Louis Chess Club is offering the Cairns Chess Queens Award — a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at encouraging more female chess players from the United States to achieve the Grandmaster (GM) title. A $100,000 prize will be awarded to any U.S. female player who earns the overall GM title within this five-year period. Up to five players will be recognized, with eligibility limited to female chess players who are American citizens or who become citizens before earning the title.

“The Saint Louis Chess Club remains dedicated to advancing the game of chess at every level,” said Tony Rich, Technical Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club. “The Cairns Cup plays a vital role in fostering the growth of women in chess, offering a world-class stage where top talent can challenge themselves, gain critical experience, and inspire future generations.”

The tournament follows a prestigious ten-player round-robin format of classical chess, similar in format to the illustrious Sinquefield Cup. Games will be held at the World Chess Hall of Fame & Galleries in the historic Central West End neighborhood where its latest exhibition — “Charles Houska: Master of Play” — will be on display during the tournament.

Each round of the Cairns Cup will be streamed live daily from June 10 to 20 at 12:20 p.m. CDT with expert commentary by Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Katerina Nemcova, WGM Almira Skripchenko and International Master (IM) Nazi Paikidze. International Arbiter (IA) Maya Myers will serve as Chief Arbiter and IA Anastasia Sorokina as Deputy Arbiter.

This is the game Anna Zatonskih – Carissa Yip from round 10 of the US Women Chess Championship 2024.

More: 2024 US Women Chess Championship / US Women Chess Championship live / Round 10 video

Anna Zatonskih – Carissa Yip, US Women Chess Championship 2024

This is the game Carissa Yip – Megan Lee from round 9 of the US Women Chess Championship 2024.

More: 2024 US Women Chess Championship / US Women Chess Championship live / Round 9 video

Carissa Yip – Megan Lee, US Women Chess Championship 2024

Dr. Mehmet Ismail calculated her new CPR (Complete performance rating) to be 2875 i.e. If she started with a rating of 2857, scored 8/8 against the same players and drew a game with a 2857 player, her initial rating would remain the same. See more about CPR calculations here

Scroll down for the results, games and standings of round 8 of the US Chess Championships 2024.

After 8 rounds of the 2024 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship, Carissa Yip continues her outstanding performance, leading the field with a perfect score of 8/8. She’s followed by Begim Tokhirjonova with 5.5 points and Alice Lee with 5 points. Megan Lee and Tatev Abrahamyan are tied for 4th with 4.5 points each.

Round 8: Tatev Abrahamyan – Rose Atwell / Atousa Pourkashiyan – Carissa Yip / Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova – Jennifer Yu / Nazi Paikidze – Thalia Cervantes Landeiro / Megan Lee – Anna Zatonskih / Alice Lee – Irina Krush

More: 2024 US Chess Championship / 2024 US Women Chess Championship / US Chess Championship live / US Women Chess Championship live

In the open section after 8 rounds of the 2024 U.S. Chess Championship, Fabiano Caruana holds the lead with 5 points out of 7 games. Awonder Liang and Hans Niemann are close behind with 4.5 points. Several players, including Ray Robson, Sam Sevian, and Levon Aronian, are tied with 4 points.

Round 8: Levon Aronian – Ray Robson / Hans Moke Niemann – Abhimanyu Mishra / Leiner Dominguez Perez – Grigoriy Oparin / Wesley So – Fabiano Caruana / Awonder Liang – Samuel Sevian

This is the game Atousa Pourkashiyan – Carissa Yip from round 8 of the US Women Chess Championship 2024.

More: 2024 US Women Chess Championship / US Women Chess Championship live / Round 8 video

Atousa Pourkashiyan – Carissa Yip, US Women Chess Championship 2024

The performance of Carissa Yip in CPR

Accurate performance ratings are essential in chess for awarding titles, prizes, and organizing tournaments, especially when tiebreaks matter. The Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) has been the standard for this purpose. However, TPR becomes undefined when a player wins all their games in a tournament, just like in the case of Carissa Yip at the US Chess Championships. For that reason Dr. Mehmet Ismail proposed the use of Complete Performance Rating (CPR) instead of Tournament Performance Rating (TPR)

Dr. Mehmet Ismail says, “I recently defined a new performance rating method specifically for 100% scores, as the standard tournament performance rating is undefined in that case.Carissa Yip’s 7/7 perfect run is making this research relevant. To repeat the definition here, CPR is the hypothetical rating R such that if the player were assigned this rating at the start of a tournament where the player scored m points in n games and additionally drew a game against an opponent with a rating R, the player’s initial rating would remain unchanged.” and continues, “Since Carissa’s opponents’ average rating is 2308, her CPR is calculated to be 2846. This means that if she started the tournament with a 2846 rating and scored 7/7 against the same opponents and drew with a hypothetical 2846-rated player, her initial rating would remain the same.”

“I am following her remarkable run with great interest!” says Dr. Mehmet Ismail. Learn more about CPR here and follow Dr. Mehmet Ismail on Twitter/X

More: 2024 US Chess Championship / 2024 US Women Chess Championship / US Chess Championship live / US Women Chess Championship live

Round 1: Carissa Yip – Thalia Cervantes 1-0
Round 2: Rose Atwell – Carissa Yip 0-1
Round 3: Carissa Yip – Jennifer Yu 1-0
Round 4: Irina Krush – Carissa Yip 0-1
Round 5: Carissa Yip – Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova 1-0
Round 6: Tatev Abrahamyan – Carissa Yip 0-1

Carissa Yip at the US Women’s Chess Championship

Carissa Yip has been making waves in the chess world with her impressive performances at the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship. Carissa Yip won the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in both 2021 and 2023. Her victory in 2021 was particularly notable where she scored 8½/11, finishing 1½ points ahead of the second place, and defeated several former champions during the tournament.

In the 2024 U.S. Women’s Championship, Carissa Yip starts strongly by winning her first six games. She came in fury, as no important player or commentator at the St. Louis Chess Club picked her as a favorite for gold.

The chess career of Carissa Yip

• Chess Career Highlights:
  • Became the youngest female to defeat a grandmaster at age ten.
  • Achieved the title of International Master (IM) at a notably young age, making her the youngest American female player to earn this title.
  • Her performance in various international and national events has consistently been at a high level, further establishing her reputation.
• Olympiad Success: In 2024, at the 45th Chess Olympiad, she won individual gold and team bronze playing on Board 2, underscoring her prowess on the international stage.

This is the game Irina Krush – Carissa Yip from round 4 of the US Women Chess Championship 2024.

More: 2024 US Women Chess Championship / US Women Chess Championship live / Round 4 video

Irina Krush – Karissa Yip, US Women Chess Championship 2024

This is the game Carissa Yip – Jennifer Yu from round 3 of the US Women Chess Championship 2024.

More: 2024 US Women Chess Championship / US Women Chess Championship live / Round 3 video

Carissa Yip – Jennifer Yu, US Women Chess Championship 2024