Two former WSCC champions advanced comfortably into the Quarterfinals of the 2025 Women’s Speed Chess Championship. Women’s World Champion (and reigning WSCC Champion) GM Ju Wenjun beat FM Anastasia Avramidou 9.5-4.5, while GM Kateryna Lagno eliminated IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya with a 10-5 score.
The next two matches will take place on Saturday, August 9. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk vs. IM Carissa Yip will be at 12:00 p.m. ET / 18:00 CEST / 9:30 p.m. IST, followed by IM Polina Shuvalova vs. IM Meri Arabidze at 2:30 p.m. ET / 20:30 CEST / 12:00 a.m. (+1) IST.
Women’s Speed Chess Championship Bracket
Ju 9.5-4.5 Avramidou
Ju’s immense score in the first two segments ensured match victory virtually regardless of what happened in the bullet. Avramidou proved to be a bullet beast in the last 15 minutes as she won the last portion by a two-point margin, but it wasn’t enough for a realistic comeback.
5+1: Ju 4-1 Avramidou
The world champion took an early, three-point lead, but it could have been even greater. Her younger opponent proved to be extremely resilient in time scrambles, and in the two draws Ju lost control when low on time.
The match started with an extremely convincing win. Ju sacrificed the exchange temporarily on e6, knowing that her incursive knight would decide the game.
The next two games were drawn, and Ju showed some vulnerability in the time scrambles. In game two, she could have easily won with the king infiltration of 38…Kf5, but after 38…b5? 39.g4, played, White had a fortress. The black king had no way to enter.
The next game, Ju could have even lost. Although she’d previously been winning, she hung her rook at one point, with both players realizing it milliseconds after the moment passed, and then a full piece later (again it was missed, with almost no time for both players), but still escaped with a draw.
Ju Wenjun hangs her rook, Avramidou misses it, and both players shake their heads immediately after! https://t.co/pEK1SK4gVp #SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/5gJVq26LWr
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 7, 2025
Still, Ju recovered and won the next two games. First, she converted a knight endgame up a pawn (no fortress this time) and then an attack netted her opponent’s queen in the next game.
3+1: Ju 4-1 Avramidou
The 3+1 portion featured the same score as the last one, except that Avramidou scored her first win of the match (as opposed to two draws).
Ju won the first game with an incisive double attack. 32…Qxf6! won an exchange and, after a few more moves, the game.
The next game, Avramidou won for the first time in the match. 27…Rxe4! was a temporary queen sacrifice, knowing that the passed pawn would promote. Then, commentator FM Mike Klein called 29…Rxa2! a “discovered attack pin promotion” tactic, allowing Black to likely win the queen and checkmate.
Ju won the next three games. The second game of that string was the most exciting, as Ju’s tenacious defense turned a losing position into a winning one.
Great defense by Ju Wenjun transforms a losing position into a winning one!https://t.co/TiMgFByb6E#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/7TSgDliNve
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 7, 2025
The last game was a painful one, as Avramidou had two bishops in an open position for a sacrificed pawn, with everything to play for. With little time, however, she blundered one of the bishops to a fork after 31.Qd3?? Qe1+.
1+1: Ju 1.5-3.5 Avramidou
This was Avramidou’s best segment, though the deficit from the first two was too large to overcome in the last 15 minutes. She won three, lost one, and drew one.
Avramidou strung together two wins after after losing the first game. She picked up her first win after Ju overlooked a pin on the a2-g8 diagonal.
She then won again, on time in a better position, though it was only enough to bring the gap to five points.
Avramidou strings together two wins in a row in the bullet segment, but she’s still down by five!https://t.co/OAxluuDPDn#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/FoSloRRvZS
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 7, 2025
The match ended with a draw followed by Avramidou winning the last game on time in an equal position, finishing with an impressive performance in the bullet. Ju Wenjun makes $2,450, with $550 for Avramidou by win percentage.
Lagno 10-5 Maltsevskaya
Although Lagno was the favorite in the match anyway, it didn’t help that Maltsevskaya played two classical games in the Turkish Super League 2025 before signing on for another hour and a half of chess in the WSCC. Lagno won all three segments.
5+1: Lagno 4-1 Maltsevskaya
Lagno was an absolute powerhouse in the first segment, winning three games and drawing two.
After a draw in game one, Lagno won the next two games, winning a full knight in each of them. Game two featured a fork, though there was a miracle defense available:
The next game, Lagno won another knight with a fork in another time scramble.
Lagno wins a second game in a row, again winning a full knight!https://t.co/mvAFztpB7U#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/z6qzhokEFR
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 7, 2025
After a high-accuracy draw, Lagno won the last game of the segment. The last move, 24.Na6!!, was a flashy way to end the first portion. If the knight were taken, White would pin and win the queen on the b-file.
3+1: Lagno 3-2 Maltsevskaya
Maltsevskaya did better as the time quickened, but not quite enough to make it a competitive match.
The Polish IM won the first game of the segment, outplaying her opponent in an endgame of rook and queen vs. rook and queen. Lagno then won the next game, which was certainly the most exhilarating time scramble of the day—a truly three-results kind of game.
Lagno wins what was definitely the most exhilirating time scramble of the day!https://t.co/NliGBNt49k#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/zuSweRmOJg
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 7, 2025
Lagno then won by finding a fork but lost the next game, one that swung from a winning position for White straight to a back rank mate for the other side.
The last game of the segment looked destined for a draw, but one hasty decision by Maltsevskaya meant losing the rook vs. knight endgame, which should be a draw 100% of the time with best play. As Klein explained in ChessKid terminology, we call this “Putting Pressure on the Pinned Piece” (“PP on the PP”).
1+1: Lagno 3-2 Maltsevskaya
Lagno started the final portion with a four-point lead, a deficit that was once overcome by GM Valentina Gunina in the best comeback in WSCC history (in 2019). It was pretty clear early on, however, that a similar comeback wouldn’t happen this time.
Lagno won the first two bullet games, first picking up a free pawn and then a rook in game one. In game two, the combination of queen, rook, and knight ensured checkmate (or heavy material loss, followed by checkmate).
Maltsevskaya scored her easiest win the next game, the only case in the entire match when Lagno blundered a full piece in one move.
Maltsevskaya looked on the verge of stringing together another win when she lost on time, in a completely position.
Lagno’s dead lost, but she wins on time!https://t.co/zUmf3MOyoj#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/xfn8qKsSb2
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 7, 2025
Like in the last one, the loser of the match again won final game, though it didn’t come close to changing the outcome. In that one, Lagno blundered her queen to a knight fork, but with a match win by five points she can’t be too upset. Lagno earns $2,500 while Maltsevskaya takes $500 by win percentage.
In a short interview, Lagno said that her most consistent routine for such matches is playing practice games online. While she’s comfortable playing blitz over the board, using a mouse takes some getting used to. She said, “I tried to practice a few days ago, to feel the game, because I didn’t play for quite a while, I mean online.” She said she played about 30 games the day before “just to get in shape.”
The match was perhaps not as one-sided as it looked. Lagno remarked, “She was really fast, just she blundered in some important games and that’s why I had an advantage, but it was not clear.” As for the next match, she will face the winner of Kosteniuk vs. Yip. Though she said Kosteniuk is a favorite to win, she acknowledged that Yip is a young player and can be full of surprises. You can catch the next two matches this weekend!
The 2025 Women’s Speed Chess Championship, which takes place from August 4-29, is a Chess.com event where some of the strongest female chess players in the world battle for a $75,000 prize fund. The main event sees 16 players compete in a single-elimination bracket in matches played at 5+1, 3+1, and 1+1 time controls.
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