Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika to be favorites for Cairns Cup 10-man race
Posted Date – Fri, 5/12/23 at 11:30pm
Photo: IANS
St. Louis (USA): India’s top female GMs Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika will be among the top 10 contenders for the Cairns Cup, an elite women’s chess tournament hosted by the St. Louis Chess Club, which returns this June.
The ten-man round-robin tournament will be hosted by the St. Louis Chess Club at the World Chess Hall of Fame from June 3-13, 2023.
Former FIDE Women’s Rapid Chess Champion Humpy, currently rated at 2576, will be the top seed in the lineup, while Harika, with a rating of 2511, will be the fourth seed in the tournament, which will be one of the strongest women’s fields, as they Compete for a total prize pool of $180,000.
Other players participating in the match were Alexandra Kostenyuk (Kazakhstan), Jansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan), Elisabeth Petz (Germany), Bella Hotnashvi Leigh (Georgia), Gunay Mamazada (Azerbaijan), Irina Krush (USA) and Anna Zatynsky (USA).
“The St. Louis Chess Club continues to promote the game of chess in innovative ways,” St. Louis Chess Club executive director Tony Rich was quoted as saying in Thursday’s press release.
“The Cairns Cup is exciting because it brings together one of the strongest international fields ever in women’s chess and one of the largest prize moneys in an all-female tournament,” he added.
