Women's Speed Chess Championship: Lei Tingjie, Anna Muzychuk Advance

Two more players qualified for the quarterfinals of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship on Saturday. First, GM Lei Tingjie (China) defeated WGM Vaishali R. (India) and in the second match, GM Anna Muzychuk beat IM Iulija Osmak (both Ukraine).

The last match in the round of 16 will be on Sunday, June 20, at 4:30 a.m. PT/13:30 CEST between GM Hou Yifan and IM Gulnar Mammadova.

The live broadcast of today’s two matches.

Lei Tingjie vs. Vaishali R.

It was a doubleheader today in the Women’s Speed Chess Championship with two matches played almost back-to-back. In both cases, the winner clinched the match with a big margin.

Lei, the number-four female player in China, actually started with a loss in her match with WGM Vaishali, who happens to be GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu‘s older sister. The 19-year-old Indian player ended up losing the five-minute portion 3-4 to her strong Chinese opponent. It was 3-3, when this happened:

The difference in power was bigger in the shorter time controls as Lei won the 3|1 segment 5-1 and the 1|1 segment 5-2.

Afterward, Lei praised her opponent by saying that she “played a lot of great games.” Both players expressed that they like the format, but 1|1 isn’t Lei’s favorite time control: “You always play crazy games, and pieces are flying.”

Vaishali earned $1,000 for finishing 9th-16th. Lei moves on to the quarterfinals, where she will meet GM Antoaneta Stefanova.

All games

Anna Muzychuk vs. Iulija Osmak

It was clear that Muzychuk, a two-time women’s world blitz champion, was the favorite in this match against her compatriot. Osmak, however, put up a decent fight especially in the five-minute segment. The remainder was similar to the earlier match of the day with Muzychuk dominating more and more in the 3|1 (5.5-1.5) and 1|1 segments (7.5-0.5).

The second bullet game saw quite an interesting finish:

“I had the first experience to play in such a strong tournament, so I think this was my main problem in this match. I didn’t have much experience, and my opponent played very well,” said Osmak. “It was a very good fight and a good experience for me.”

Osmak earned $1,000 for finishing 9th-16th. Muzychuk moves on to the quarterfinals, where she will meet GM Harika Dronavalli.

All games

The FIDE Chess.com 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship is an online competition for titled female players. The qualifiers for the event were held May 28-June 6, while the main event runs June 10-July 3. Players battle for their shares of a total prize fund of $66,000.