GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and IM Polina Shuvalova have advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2025 Women’s Speed Chess Championship. While Kosteniuk was clearly too strong for IM Carissa Yip (11-4), Shuvalova only narrowly beat IM Meri Arabidze (7-6) in matches that were played on Saturday.
The next two matches will take place on Monday, August 11. GM Lei Tingjie vs. GM-elect Divya Deshmukh will be at 9:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CEST / 7 p.m. IST, followed by GM Bibisara Assaubayeva vs. Zhu Jiner at noon ET / 18:00 CEST / 9:30 p.m. IST.
Women’s Speed Chess Championship Bracket
Kosteniuk 11-4 Yip
Few would have expected Kosteniuk’s walkover after Yip’s win in the very first game of the match. The 21-year-old, already a three-time U.S. Women’s Champion, had to wait until game 12 for her second win, early in the bullet time control when the fight was virtually over. At 41, Kosteniuk holds women’s world titles in classical and rapid but considering her prowess in even faster time controls, it’s surprising she has never won the World Blitz.
5+1: Kosteniuk 3-2 Yip
In the first game of the match, Kosteniuk deviated from her usual 1.e4 and went 1.Nf3 instead. Likely influenced by the result, the Russian GM, who represents Switzerland, went for her regular opening move for the remainder of her games—not that it made a big difference. Yip would go for a similar Hippopotamus setup in many black games anyway. As said, it worked for her in the opener:
After this early mishap, Kosteniuk was able to demonstrate a classic match strategy for quite a while—until and including game nine—consistently drawing her black games and winning with the white pieces. After beating Yip in a Caro-Kann to level the score, the Hippo was still a bit of a challenge for Kosteniuk until Yip dropped an exchange:
That was the end of the 45-minute 5+1 section, and things were still pretty close. As it turned out, Kosteniuk was finally warmed up, and she would win the next two segments rather convincingly.
3+1: Kosteniuk 4-1 Yip
It seemed that Yip really wanted to avoid theory as she started the three-minute portion (set for 30 minutes) with another Hippo, this time with the white pieces. She couldn’t win it, and her next white game also ended in a draw, this time after an exciting time scramble that provided some good entertainment for the fans. It was a key game as Yip missed a clear win:
What a wide range of facial expressions by Kosteniuk during this time scramble!https://t.co/0vuVCV7tbl#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/o5zRc0GmLX
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 9, 2025
1+1: Kosteniuk 4-1 Yip
The score was now 7-3 going into the bullet segment, which would last just 15 minutes. Yip really needed to start winning a few games, but when Kosteniuk made it 8-3, it was practically over. Yip grabbed her last small chance in game 12, only her second win in the match and as it would turn out, also her last.
It was clear that it wasn’t Yip’s day as she sadly lost the final game of the match on time in a winning position.
Kosteniuk’s victory earned her $2,600; Yip received $400 by win percentage.
Shuvalova 7-6 Arabidze
In contrast, the second matchup of the day was as close as it gets, with the players being tied 6-6 with just one more bullet game to go. Shuvalova played a good final game, benefitting from the white pieces, and thus avoided a tiebreak. Playing from Turkiye, where she is active in the Turkish league for her club Pamukkale University, the 24-year-old Russian GM will play IM Alice Lee next in this Women’s Speed Chess Championship.
5+1: Shuvalova 3-1 Arabidze
This hard-fought match saw just two draws over 13 games. The five-minute segment saw four decisive games, with Shuvalova scoring the first win with the black pieces as the segment clock was ticking down. According to the tablebase, the queen endgame was lost from the start:
Shuvalova finishes the 5+1 portion with a crosscheck and takes a one-point lead!https://t.co/DWDASseBZs#SpeedChess pic.twitter.com/OQTXqQIvKR
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 9, 2025
3+1: Shuvalova 1-3 Arabidze
Mirroring the five-minute segment, this time it was Arabidze who won the middle part of the match with a 3-1 score. The first and fourth 3+1 games were the only draws of the match, and in between them, Arabidze won games six and seven. Her second win came after mutual time trouble:
1+1: Shuvalova 3-2 Arabidze
All was tied again, and it remained that way as both players just kept on winning as White, game after game. That included the last one, which started with two minutes and 26 seconds left on the match clock. Would there be one more or two?
With about 15 seconds to go, Arabidze was lost on the board and in hindsight, she definitely should have resigned to give it one more chance as White. She decided to play on and couldn’t hold it:
Shuvalova earned $2,308 for the match victory, and Arabidze got $692 by win percentage.
“The match was very complex,” said Shuvalova afterward. “At the start I had a lead and I thought it should go more or less smooth for me, but then it was ups and downs and at some moment I lost some games. I was not good [when playing] on seconds. Everything was decided in the last game basically.”
We’ve seen Shuvalova before in our WSCC and I’m Not a GM events, and somehow it was never a walk in the park for her. “I never had an easy match, never in my life. It was always close, always like this. Maybe it is my path in this speed chess series!”
She had some nice words for Arabidze as well: “I want to thank her for a good match and a good fight. She also played many good games.”
The 2025 Women’s Speed Chess Championship, which takes place 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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