WGM Bibisara Assaubayeva and WGM Olga Girya qualify to the Women's Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix from the 4th qualifier.

172 players joined the Swiss 5+1 blitz tournament held on June 21. After nine rounds, the top eight finishers made it to the knockout stage: WGM Olga Girya (Russia), WGM Elena Tomilova (Russia), WIM Vaishali R (India), WIM Margarita Potapova (Russia), GM Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), WGM Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan), WGM Deysi Cori (Peru), and GM Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia).

A young Kazakhstani star Bibisara Assaubayeva is the world's highest-rated girl in the under-16 age category who has the titles of World Youth Champion (Girls U8) and World Cadets Champion (Girls U12) under her belt. In the quarters, she defeated Vaishali R 2-0. However, her semifinal match against Elena Tomilova was not an easy walk. After a draw in the first game, Assaubayeva managed to win the second one from the lost position - her opponent was a knight up but miscalculated when going for simplifications, erroneously sacrificed her extra piece and found herself in a lost pawn ending.

The reigning Russian Women's Champion, WGM Olga Girya took the second qualifying spot. She started both her matches against Dzagnidze and Stefanova from losing the first game but showed her mettle not only bouncing back both times but also winning the decisive Armageddon games. GM Robert Hess who was commentating on the games even called Olga a “comeback queen” and for a good reason. The position in her "sudden death" game against Stefanova was still unclear in the sharp queens' endgame when the Bulgarian ex-world champion lost on time.

The FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship is an online competition for female players held between June 18 and July 20, 2020. The championship consists of four separate stages, with the first now underway.

Two more of these Swiss tournaments, followed by a knockout, will be played and to deliver two qualifiers each for the Grand Prix stage that follows. WSCC Super Final in which two best players of Grand Prix face-off, crowns the competition. The Swiss tournaments are open to any titled women player (WCM/WFM/WIM/WGM/IM/GM). Each one of the Grand Prix legs has a total prize fund of 10,300 USD, with 3,000 going to the winner. The prize fund of WSCC Super Final amounts to 10,000 USD, with 6,500 going to the winner, and 3,500 to the runner up.

More information about the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship can be found here.