“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.

Games will be live daily on Chessdom.com. More: Grand Prix Pune Tournament information / Live games / Details about the Women Grand Prix series

This game is from Round 7 of the event – Harika Dronavalli – M Pranesh.

Harika Dronavalli – M Pranesh, Chennai Chess Masters 2024

This game is from Round 6 of the event – Raunak Sadhwani – Harika Dronavalli.

Raunak Sadhwani – Harika Dronavalli, Chennai Chess Masters 2024

This game is from Round 5 of the event – Harika Dronavalli – Rameshbabu Vaishali.

Harika Dronavalli – Rameshbabu Vaishali, Chennai Chess Masters 2024

Other group of Chennai Chess: Chennai Chess Masters 2024 LIVE

Round 5: V Pranav – Raunak Sadhwani / M Pranesh – Leon Luke Mendonca / Harika Dronavalli – Rameshbabu Vaishali / Abhimanyu Puranik – Murali Karthikeyan

Round 6: M Pranesh – V Pranav / Raunak Sadhwani – Harika Dronavalli / Rameshbabu Vaishali – Abhimanyu Puranik / Leon Luke Mendonca – Murali Karthikeyan

Current round 7: V Pranav – Leon Luke Mendonca / Harika Dronavalli – M Pranesh / Abhimanyu Puranik – Raunak Sadhwani / Murali Karthikeyan – Rameshbabu Vaishali

Follow all the games of the tournament Chennai Chess Challengers 2024 LIVE:

Standings after Round 6:

Throwback: Narayanan keeps Asian Junior title

The open team of India is second seeded according to the July rating list, right behind USA. But with players from both teams still participating in events, that can change. As expected, what was known as India 2 has now become the top team of the country. Board 1 is for the highest rated Indian player Arjun Erigaisi. Right next to him will be no other than the World Championship 2024 challenger Gukesh D. Another youngster is on board 3 , Praggnanandhaa, and the team is completed by Vidit and Pentala Harikrishna.

The Indian women team placed 3rd in the 2022 Chess Olympiad , edging USA and Kazakhstan on a dramatic tiebreak for the medal. Harika Dronavalli will take board 1 for India. Her teammates from 2022 Vaishali R (who recently competed in the Tbilisi Grand Prix) and Tania Sachdev (who now plays in Sants Open 2024 will also accompany her. The new faces on the team are Divya Deshmukh and Agrawal Vantika.

More Indian participants at the Olympiad

Our IANS colleague Venkatachari Jagannathan pointed out today that the two teams are not the only Indians participating at the Olympiad. Priyadharshan Kannappan from Chennai is coach of two teams at the same time, Erithrea and Mauritius. The other Indian chess masters who are training other country’s players for the Olympiad are GM Ankit R Rajpara, GM Anurag Mahamal, and IM Vishal Sareen.

All about FIDE Wrold Cup 2023 :2023 FIDE Women’s World Cup / 2023 FIDE World Cup / Yi Wei – Vasyl Ivanchuk,FIDE World Cup 2023 round 3 LIVE / Magnus Carlsen – Aryan Tari, FIDE World Cup 2023 round 3 LIVE / David W L Howell – Hao Wang, FIDE World Cup 2023 round 3 LIVE / Ivan Cheparinov – Jan-Krzysztof Duda, FIDE World Cup 2023 round 3 LIVE / Peter Svidler – Jorden Van Foreest, FIDE World Cup 2023 round 3 LIVE / Benjamin Gledura – Hikaru Nakamura, FIDE World Cup 2023 round 3 LIVE
Parallel :Shopping Patio Pinda Festival / Summer Prague Open / U20 Israeli Youth Championship / Krefeld Summer Open
More :Badalona Open / Nordhäuser Schachopen / Thessaloniki Open A / Sueca Open / Spilimbergo Master

-1