Seven things that made Cairns Cup 2020 special
The second edition of the super-elite Cairns Cup took place from the 6th to the 17th of this month in St. Louis, Missouri. Hosted by the famed St. Louis Chess Club, the event featured ten of the leading female players in the world and was fittingly dubbed as the strongest women's tournament ever in the history of chess. Author Satanick Mukhuty covered the entire event from day one and was bemused by the scale and intensity of the action it produced. In this article he speaks about the seven things that in his opinion make the Cairns Cup 2020 stand out among similar other high-profile events.
The Cairns Cup 2020 promised to deliver exciting chess and kept every word of it. More than half of the total number of games in the event finished decisively and the majority of draws too were extremely hard-fought. What were the factors that turned it into such a phenomenon? Who were the people behind who ensured its success? In this article we discuss all about it and much more.
1. A stratospheric rating average
Aptly named after the co-founder of St.Louis Chess Club Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield's maiden name, the Cairns Cup was established only last year with the sole objective to promote women's chess and it has since then evolved into the strongest super-tournament for female chess players ever. This year it announced a whopping prize fund of 180,000 US Dollars (approximately rupees 1.3 crore) which attracted a star-studded field of ten players comprising several World Champions. With 2510 being the average rating of the participants, the event easily proclaimed to be the greatest of its kind on paper.
2. Prize Money
The first edition of the event disbursed a prize fund of 150,000$ and this time it increased substantially to 180,000$. Koneru Humpy, the champion, went back richer by 45,000$ (approximately 32 Lakh INR), while Ju Wenjun and Alexandra Kosteniuk returned home with 35,000$ and 22,500$ respectively. Moreover, all players were amply rewarded for their spirited participation.
High stakes in prizes ensured a stiffer competition. Ju Wenjun, for instance, defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk in the last round and deservingly won 10,000$ more than what she would have gotten had she settled for a draw. On the other hand, Nana Dzagnidze over pushed in the same round hoping to gain more and ended up going down against Irina Krush.
3. A high-class coverage
The St. Louis Chess Club also made sure that the event was broadcasted and promoted well. GM Yasser Seirawan and WGM Jen Shahade were joined by GM Alejandro Ramirez for move by move analysis of the games. The importance of a high-class commentary can never be underestimated. Chess is an abstract intellectual sport and it needs truly great commentators to make it fun and accessible to lay audiences.
Together with them even the team of official photographers - Lennart Ootes, Austin Fuller, and Crystal Fuller - did an excellent job, and IM Eric Rosen published insightful recap articles on the official website making it easier for followers to catch-up.
4. A plethora of plot twists
The Cairns Cup 2020 produced 23 decisive games in all which is more than half of the total number of encounters. But more interestingly 12 out of these were victories with black pieces which goes on to show the level of fighting chess the tournament displayed. When, in what was an electrifying penultimate round, Alexandra Kosteniuk got the better of Nana Dzagnidze, Yasser rightly remarked that every time one thought one understood the plot, something very unexpected would happen and change everything!
5. Koneru Humpy - The Champion
Amidst all the chaotic ups and downs, the twists and turns, if there was one player who kept her boat steady better than everyone else, it was none other than Koneru Humpy. The Indian phenom lost her second round to Mariya Muzychuk and also gave away two draws in a row with white pieces immediately thereafter but never really stopped making progress. Thus, finally when the dust settled, she deservingly came out on the top, ahead of even the reigning top seed Ju Wenjun.
Humpy went home richer by 45,000$. She also reached a live rating of 2586, making her world no. 2, three elo points ahead of the World Champion Ju Wenjun. We have said this in the past, but we mention it again - Humpy is a big inspiration to everyone out there. After becoming a mother, and taking a break from chess for nearly two years, she is back on the board and producing some of the best chess that has ever been seen in women's chess! We hope that she can keep this form going, and soon fight for the highest title - the World Champion's title! That's the only feather missing in her cap now!
Koneru admitted that she didn’t have the highest expectations after her loss to Mariya Muzychuk. "After my second round loss, I did not expect to make it to the top", she explained to Alejandro Ramirez after her last round game. (Photo: St. Louis Chess Club)
6. Carissa Yip - The Dark Horse
We have already mentioned how St. Louis Chess Club promotes chess for women. The Cairns Cup was initiated solely for that purpose. This year along with the top female players in the world they also invited Carissa Yip, a young talent from America and gave her the rare opportunity to rub shoulders with the best in the world.
The 16-year-old Carissa Yip is one of the most promising up-and-coming talents in US Chess, she rose to fame in 2014 by defeating GM Alexander Ivanov and becoming the youngest female ever in the world to beat a Grandmaster. But as they say, the path to mastery is one strewn with difficulties and every strong player with potential has to invariably go through the tough grind in order to become a true champion. Carissa faced her share of struggles at the Cairns cup 2020. She lost her first four rounds back-to-back against Koneru, Humpy, Kateryna Lagno, Nana Dzagnidzé, and Alexandra kosteniuk - four of the best female players in the world - but the young girl didn't back up and faced compatriot Irina Krush boldly in the fifth round of the event. And what was the result? Well, she managed to score her first point by beating the seven-time US Women's Champion!
7. Dynamic play
Purely from chess point of view the Cairns Cup 2020 proved to be nothing short of sensational. From quirky openings to combinational middlegames to grinding endgames, it saw it all. Let's revisit some of these brilliant twists and surprises!
(I) Openings
The event saw very few risk-free openings. Among others, Valentina Gunina was one player who kept shocking with her choice of preparation. She tried to be very creative in the first phase of the game, although unfortunately for her this mostly backfired.
Kosteniuk - Gunina
Yip - Gunina
Humpy - Gunina
(II) Middlegames
There were many instructive examples of fine middlegame struggles. We choose here the following masterclass by Muzychuk where she outplayed Koneru Humpy with some fantastic attacking play.
Muzychuk - Humpy
(III) Endgames
The tournament had multiple instances of fighting endgames. Read, for instance, the report we wrote after round 7 of the event. But the best of all by far was Humpy's impossible squeeze against Kosteniuk.
Humpy - Kosteniuk
