Next week, we’ll explore how great the chess dads are, but we thought we’d beat the pre-Father’s Day rush with a couple of superb recent performances from the ladies.
First up is a hugely impressive result from rising Kazakh star GM Bibisara Assaubayeva, who captured the third Norway Chess Women’s tournament last week over a field that included some of the top players in the women’s game.
Assaubayeva, who just missed qualifying for a world title match at the recent women’s candidates’ tournament, had been best known for her three women’s blitz world titles since 2021. With wins at classical time controls over such established stars as Indian GM Humpy Koneru and Chinese GM Zhu Jiner, the 22-year-old Assaubayeva clinched her victory in Oslo with a round to spare.
In an intriguing glimpse at what might have been, Assaubayeva split her two classical games with reigning women’s world champ GM Ju Wenjun of China, clearly outplaying the champ in their Round 8 clash. Black never quite equalizes in this Queen’s Indian and after 13. Qd2 Ne6!? (more direct was 13…d5 14. exd5 cxd5 15. Rfc1 Nba6 to accelerate Black’s lagging development) 14. Rad1 Na6 15. Nde2 c5 16. f4, Assaubayeva correctly pushes to open up the play while Black is still seeking good squares for her pieces.
On 18. Nd5 (Qxd4?? Bc5) Bxd5 19. exd5 Bf6 (both players must babysit their weak, isolated d-pawns, but White has already obtained a clear initiative) 20. f5 g5 21. d6 Rd8 22. b4, White’s pawns deny her opponent good squares for development.
Already 23. Rde1 Rxe1?! (Re3 looks more disruptive, but White stays on top in clever lines such as 24. h4! [Rxe3?! dxe3 25. Qxe3 Nxb4 only eases Black’s burdens] Rxg3 25. hxg5 Bxg5 26. Rf3! Rg4 [Bxd2 27. Rxg3+ Kh8 (Bg5 28. Re7! is deadly) 28. Bg7+ Kg8 29. Bf6+ Kf8 30. Be7+ Qxe7 31. exd7+ Ke8 32. Rg8 mate] 27. Re4! Rxe4 28. Rg3 f6 29. Bxe4 and wins) 24. Rxe1 Qb6 is a painful positional concession, as the Black g-pawn falls and Ju’s king is left exposed.
The attack leads straight to checkmate after 25. Bxg5 Qxd6 (d3+ 26. Kh1 Qd4 27. a3 Bxg5 28. Qxg5+ Qg7 29. Qe3 Qc3 30. Rd1 wins for White) 26. Bf4 (winning the exchange with an X-ray attack while the attack rages on) Qb6 27. Bxb8 Nxb8 28. Re8+ Kg7 29. Qf4, and the Black king is not long for this world.
The champ plays it out to the bitter end: 32. Qg4+ Kh6 33. Rg8 Qd4 34. Qh5 mate.
Another red-hot phenom captured the concurrent men’s Norway Chess Tournament, as 20-year-old Indian GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa reeled off four wins in the final four rounds for a stunning come-from-behind victory. His victims in the late-tournament surge included compatriot and current world champion GM Dommaraju Gukesh (who wound up last in the elite eight-grandmaster field) and former world champion and unofficial tournament host GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
It was another disappointing hometown show for Carlsen, who is still the top-rated player in the world and rarely loses at any time control these days. The Norwegian great lost a startling four games at classical time controls and needed a last-round win over Gukesh just to come in fourth.
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What are the odds? The European Women’s Individual Championship, which wrapped up in Batumi, Georgia, last week, just two months after the open European Individual Championship, produced exactly the same result — an unknown, lightly regarded Ukrainian teenager took home first place.
In April, it was 17-year-old IM Roman Dehtiarov who claimed the European laurels despite entering the event as the 126th seed. Last week, it was 15-year-old (!) Ukrainian WFM Anastasiia Hnatyshyn taking the title as the 76th seed in the 165-woman field. Hnatyshyn finished alone in first at 9-2, despite being outrated in 10 of her 11 games. The triumph also earned her some 214 rating points, an IM norm and the women’s grandmaster title.
Typical of the young Ukrainian’s fine play in Batumi was her Round 9 upset of Azerbaijani IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva, the 2024 European women’s individual champion. Black holds her own in the early stages of this Closed Sicilian, with a solid defensive set-up even as White looks to exploit her attacking lanes on the kingside.
Younger players famously live to attack, but Hnatyshyn gets the job done here with some dogged defense and a well-timed counterattack: 26. e5 27, Qf3 Rc6 28. Rh6? (White’s pressure on the h-file looks scary, as the Black h7-pawn can’t be defended, but Hnatyshyn finds a way to turn the tables) Ne3! 29. Bxe3 Rxf6! (a nice in-between move that also liberates the bishop on h8) 30. Qh3 dxe3 31. Rxh7 Bg7. It took considerable sangfroid for Black to enter this line, but White’s attack has come to a standstill and that menacing rook on h7 proves more of a liability than an asset.
Black takes over the play on 32. g5 (see diagram; 32. Rc1, trying to save the pawn is met by 32…Rd6, with the threat of 33…Rxd3) Rf4! 33. Nxf4 (Qxc8 Rxc8 34. Rh3 Rxe4 and White’s game is collapsing) exf4, and the power of Black’s connected passed pawns makes the loss of the exchange look trivial.
After 34. Rxg7+ (desperation; no better was 34. Rc1 Qc3 35. Rh4 Qd2 36. Qf1 e2 37. Qe1 Qe3+ 38. Kg2 Qxe4+ 39. Kg1 Bd4+, with mate to come) Kxg7 35. Qf3 Qc7 36. Rf1 Rd8 37. h4 (Qxf4 Qxf4 38. Rxf4 Rd1+ 39. Kg2 e2 wins) Rd2 38. c3 Qd6, Black has a total clamp on the position despite the material equality.
Black remains in control to the very end on 42. Re1 Qxe4 43. Kh2 Qe3 44. Kg2 Rd1, and Fataliyeva resigned facing hopeless lines such as 45. Rxe2 (Qxe2 Rxe1; or 45. Rxd1 f3+! 46. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 47. Kxf3 exd1=Q+) Rg1+ 46. Kh2 Rxg4 47. Rxe3 fxe3 and wins.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Assaubayeva-Ju, 2026 Norway Chess Women, Oslo, May 2026
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. d5 exd5 7. Nd4 O-O 8. O-O c6 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. e4 Nc7 11. Nc3 g6 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Qd2 Ne6 14. Rad1 Na6 15. Nde2 c5 16. f4 Nd4 17. Nxd4 cxd4 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 Bf6 20. f5 g5 21. d6 Rb8 22. b4 b5 23. Rde1 Rxe1 24. Rxe1 Qb6 25. Bxg5 Qxd6 26. Bf4 Qb6 27. Bxb8 Nxb8 28. Re8+ Kg7 29. Qf4 d3+ 30. Kf1 d2 31. Bf3 Nc6 32. Qg4+ Kh6 33. Rg8 Qd4 34. Qh5 mate.
Fataliyeva-Hnatyshyn, 25th European Women’s Championship, Batumi, Georgia, June 2026
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 g6 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Ne2 Bg7 8. Bc4 b5 9. Bd5 Rb8 10. d3 Bb7 11. Bxb7 Rxb7 12. f4 d6 13. O-O Qb6 14. f5 Nf6 15. Nf4 Qc5 16. Bd2 O-O 17. b4 Qc8 18. g4 Nd7 19. Rf3 Ne5 20. Rh3 e6 21. Be1 d5 22. Bh4 dxe4 23. f6 Bh8 24. dxe4 Rc7 25. Nd3 Nc4 26. Bg5 e5 27. Qf3 Rc6 28. Rh6 Ne3 29. Bxe3 Rxf6 30. Qh3 dxe3 31. Rxh7 Bg7 32. g5 Rf4 33. Nxf4 exf4 34. Rxg7+ Kxg7 35. Qf3 Qc7 36. Rf1 Rd8 37. h4 Rd2 38. c3 Qd6 39. h5 Qe5 40. h6+ Kg8 41. Qg4 e2 42. Re1 Qxe4 43. Kh2 Qe3 44. Kg2 Rd1 White resigns.
• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.
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