Two quarterfinals of the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship were played on Friday, June 25.
In the first one, Hou Yifan beat Bibisara Assaubayeva 13½:9½ and became the second semifinalist of the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship.
The youngster from Kazakhstan put up a good fight, but in the end, it was not enough against the women’s top-rated player who convincingly won two out of three segments of the match. Bibisara only managed to prevail in the 3+1 section by a minimal margin.
In the semis, Hou Yifan takes on the winner of Lei Tingjie vs. Antoaneta Stefanova duel, scheduled for Monday.
In the second quarterfinal match of the day, Harika Dronavalli overpowered Anna Muzychuk 13½:8½ and clinched the third spot in the semifinals of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship.
It was a tightly contested battle, but Harika had an edge in all three segments of the match.
“Somewhere in between 5+1, I lost two games out of my blunders and felt that something was going wrong and I had to fight back. I think that was the crucial moment of the match,” said the winner after the games.
Later she added: “All I tried was to have an interesting match for people to enjoy, that was my whole point, and I think we succeeded.”
Anna Muzychuk gave full credit to her opponent: “Today Harika played better so she deserved to win the match and I congratulate her on this achievement.”
Harika’s next opponent is Kateryna Lagno. The semifinal matches are scheduled for July 1-2.
The FIDE Chess.com 2021 Women's Speed Chess Championship is an online competition for titled female players. The qualifiers for the event took place from May 28-June 6, while the main event runs from June 10 to July 3. Players are battling for their share of a total prize fund of $66,000.
Fans can follow the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship by watching the live broadcast with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com's Twitch channel. They will also be able to enjoy the event through Chess.com's Events page (https://www.chess.com/events).
More info and a full schedule of the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship can be found here.
