Saint Louis Chess Club Launches New Women’s Initiative to Develop More American Female Grandmaster Chess Players

SAINT LOUIS, June 26, 2024 – Tournament favorite Grandmaster (GM) Tan Zhongyi was crowned the winner of the 2024 Cairns Cup on Saturday, June 22, taking home a prize of $50,000. Created and hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club, the Cairns Cup is one of the world’s premier women’s tournaments.

“Even though it looked smooth for me – the actual process was harder than it looked, but I knew I had a higher chance of winning. From here, I would like to continue playing and improving. I know it will take a lot of time and work but that’s the direction I’m going in”, said Zhongyi.

GM Anna Muzychuk finished on a high note by defeating IM Alice Lee and claimed $40,000 followed by a four-way tie for third among GMs Alexandra Kosteniuk, Harika Dronavalli, Nana Dzagnidze and Mariya Muzychuk. Each will receive a $19,000 payout for third-sixth places.

Established in 2019, the Cairns Cup was created by the Saint Louis Chess Club to provide a competitive tournament for elite female players. Aptly named in honor of Saint Louis Chess Club co-founder Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield’s maiden name, the 2024 Cairns Cup featured a ten-player field of top women from across the world who competed for a purse of $200,000 during the round robin style tournament held at the World Chess Hall of Fame from June 13-22, 2024.

To rewatch all of the action from the 2024 Cairns Cup broadcast, visit uschesschamps.com. Next up will be the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour, the Superbet Romania Chess Classic, taking place June 25-July 5 in Bucharest, Romania. Tune in for daily live coverage starting at 7:20 AM CDT on the STLChessClub’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Breaking Gender Barriers: New Award Created to Develop More American Female Grandmasters

During the Cairns Cup, Saint Louis Chess Club co-founder Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield announced a new women’s chess initiative, the Cairns Chess Queens Award, a new initiative created to encourage more U.S. female chess players to become GMs. Beginning July 4, 2024, the Saint Louis Chess Club will award $100,000 for up to five players over the next five years who earn the title of GM.

Approximately only two percent of the more than 2,000 chess GMs globally are female and there is only one American female chess player to ever earn the title of GM.

“Worldwide there are only 42 female GMs, while there are currently more than 2,000 male GMs. Only 16 counties have developed a female GM and the United States only has one active female GM,” said Dr. Cairns. “We can do better! We challenge the rest of the world to consider creating similar programs to develop their players so we can create the next generation of competitive female players and leaders in chess.”

Retroactively, the Saint Louis Chess Club awarded the first Cairns Chess Queens Award for exceptional achievement to GM Irina Krush from Brooklyn, who became the first and only female player to earn the rank of GM while playing for the U.S. Krush is an eight-time U.S. Women’s Champion.

“I am happy to see the creation of the Cairns Chess Queens Award”, said GM Maurice Ashley, who first proposed the idea for the initiative. “The award will serve as an important tool to continue developing and incentivizing America’s most talented female chess players to be steadfast in the pursuit of reaching the GM title.”

Top Female Chess Players to Compete in Cairns Cup in Saint Louis

Saint Louis Chess Club to host elite international players in tournament that offers one of the largest chess prize funds for women

SAINT LOUIS, June 7, 2024 – The Cairns Cup, an elite-level female chess tournament created by the Saint Louis Chess Club, returns this June and will feature ten of the world’s best female chess players. Named in honor of Saint Louis Chess Club co-founder Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, the tournament reflects the Club’s mission to promote the game of chess among women.

As one of the premier women’s tournaments globally, the ten-player round robin tournament will be hosted at the World Chess Hall of Fame from June 12 to 23. This year’s event boasts one of the strongest female fields, competing for an increased total prize fund of $200,000.

The event kicks off on Wednesday, June 12 with the Ultimate Moves, a fun and casual exhibition event featuring 82-year-old Women’s World Chess Champion Nona Gaprindashvili from Georgia and the Cairns Cup field.

“We are proud to again organize an elite international chess tournament created to provide more opportunities for female chess players,” said Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, Co-founder of the Saint Louis Chess Club. “We hope by providing a world-class facility and a competitive prize fund, we will help inspire more women to play chess on a competitive level.”

The 2024 Cairns Cup field will feature:

“The Saint Louis Chess Club continues to innovate in promoting the game of chess,” said Tony Rich, Technical Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club. “Events like the Cairns Cup are crucial for the development of American women in chess. They provide a platform for our talented players to compete against the world’s best, gaining invaluable experience and inspiration.”

Each round of the Cairns Cup will be streamed live daily from June 13 to 23 at 1 p.m. CT with the expert commentary team of Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan and International Masters Jovanka Houska and Nazi Paikidze.

In addition, Gaprindashvili will be an honored guest at the opening ceremony as part of her world chess tour. She will also host an all-girls simul event at the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF), where she will simultaneously play multiple games at a time, encouraging young girls along the way. Gaprindashvili will also appear at “Ladies Knight” on Thursday, June 13 at the World Chess Hall of Fame from 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Gaprindashvili, a living chess legend, was the women’s world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978, she became the first woman ever to be awarded the International Chess Federation (FIDE) title of grandmaster. Gaprindashvili is also an inductee to the World Chess Hall of Fame.

The Cairns Cup will be hosted at the WCHOF, the leading chess cultural center in the country, where the all-new exhibition “Clash for the Crown: Celebrating Chess Champions,” is currently on display.

The exhibition is being held in conjunction with the 100th-anniversary celebration of the FIDE and explores the histories of the World Chess Championship and Women’s World Chess Championship through a display of artifacts from the collection of the WCHOF, FIDE and loans and donations from world chess champions and women’s world chess champions including World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Susan Polgar, as well as private lenders.

For more information and to watch the livestream, visit uschesschamps.com.

About the Saint Louis Chess Club

The Saint Louis Chess Club is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures.

Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit www.saintlouischessclub.org.

Event held in celebration of 10th anniversary of Congressional proclamation naming Saint Louis as the Chess Capital of the United States

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., hosted a special bipartisan Congressional Chess Tournament in partnership with the Saint Louis Chess Club, where members of Congress faced off against chess students and two world-renowned chess players during the event designed to showcase the importance of chess in schools across the country. The tournament coincided with the 10th anniversary of the passage of a U.S. Senate proclamation naming Saint Louis as the Chess Capital of the United States.

Eight students from the Saint Louis area traveled to Washington to participate in the tournament, squaring off against Schmitt and members of the Congressional Chess Caucus. The event featured student chess matches against Schmitt, fellow Missourians Senator Josh Hawley and Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.-7, Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and more than a dozen Congressional staff. Earlier in the day, chess students also met with Saint Louis Congresswoman Cori Bush, D-Mo.-1.

Chess is a great way for students to learn strategic thinking skills and get involved with programs that allow them to make friends and learn valuable life skills, said Schmitt. It’s my honor to co-host the bipartisan Congressional Chess Tournament with Senator Hassan and celebrate St. Louis as the chess capital of the world.

Chess is not only fun for students, but it also teaches them strategic thinking skills that will help them throughout their lives, said Hassan. I am pleased to co-host the bipartisan Congressional Chess Tournament with Senator Schmitt and celebrate the excellence of student chess players.

Schmitt was joined by Rex Sinquefield, founder of the Saint Louis Chess Club, as well as long-time ambassador Maurice Ashley, who made history as the first and only African-American Grandmaster, and International Master Gulrukhbegim Begim Tokhirjonova, one of America’s brightest rising chess talents.

It’s an honor to be back on Capitol Hill to bring the Chess Capital of the United States to Washington for this time-honored tradition, said Sinquefield. Our work to revitalize chess in schools across Missouri and more broadly throughout the United States is just getting started. With more than 100,000 students in the greater Saint Louis area engaged in scholastic chess, we are excited about the game’s growing popularity among America’s youth, and we look forward to continuing to partner with Congress to help foster greater awareness of the game and its many benefits.

Seeing so many bright and talented young students excited about chess makes me optimistic about the future of the game and the future of our country, said Ashley. There are many life lessons that are learned from the squares on the chessboard, and these students are well-primed to be our future leaders.

As the Chess Capital of the United States, Saint Louis is home to the Saint Louis Chess Club, the leading chess club in the country for scholastic and competitive chess. The scholastic chess programs of the Saint Louis Chess Club reach more than 100,000 students through innovative programs including Scholastic Tournaments, Digital Classroom, First Responders C.H.E.S.S., among others. Seven in 10 students enrolled in these programs say they look forward to school more on days with chess and believe chess has taught them that they can complete difficult tasks if they work hard.

On the competitive level, the Saint Louis Chess Club has made history through the creation of the Sinquefield and Cairns Cups, the strongest ever tournament and strongest women’s tournament held on American soil. By creating these elite tournaments, it has allowed new chess talents to grow, have attracted top players and revitalized the game in the United States. To date, approximately 25 Grandmasters live and train in Saint Louis – more Grandmasters per capita than anywhere else in the world.

The World Chess Hall of Fame, a leading arts and cultural institution centered around chess which has welcomed more than 200,000 visitors across 75 exhibitions, is also located in Saint Louis.

To learn more, visit www.saintlouischessclub.org and www.worldchesshof.org.

*To schedule a media interview or for more information, please email [email protected].*

About Saint Louis Chess Club

The Saint Louis Chess Club is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures.

Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit www.saintlouischessclub.org.

Saint Louis to Host Exciting Double-Elimination Tournament, Offering $400,000 in Prizes to Elite Competitors

SAINT LOUIS, February 15, 2024 – The Saint Louis Chess Club is excited to announce the return of the American Cup, one of the nation’s premier chess tournaments, to Saint Louis. Now in its third year, the event will run from March 12-21, 2024, at the iconic World Chess Hall of Fame, featuring sixteen of America’s top chess talents.

The American Cup includes some of the best American players, including world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana. Caruana is set to compete in the 2024 Candidates Tournament, eyeing the coveted position of the world champion challenger. The tournament also shines a spotlight on GM Irina Krush, a distinguished figure in American chess with eight U.S. Women’s Championship titles and two American Cup victories to her name.

With $400,000 in prize money up for grabs – an increase from 2023, the competitors will prove their mettle under mounting pressure in the double-elimination knockout format. This exciting structure ensures that players have a second chance for victory, promising high-stakes drama and thrilling matchups for chess fans worldwide.

“We’re proud to showcase some of the top American chess talent once again in this year’s American Cup,” said Tony Rich, Technical Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club. “With a field that includes some of the strongest male and female competitors, we’re expecting an electrifying series of games right up to the very last move.”

The tournament format divides the sixteen participants into two brackets of eight players each, who will face off in a series of knockout matches. Players will contest 4-game matches, including two classical and two rapid games. Winners will progress within the Championship Bracket, while those facing defeat will have another opportunity for glory in the Elimination Bracket, where all the play is rapid, and a second loss results in elimination.

OPEN FIELD

WOMEN’S FIELD

The rounds will be streamed live daily on uschesschamps.com with expert commentary featuring Grandmasters Yasser Seirawan and Cristian Chirila, along with Woman Grandmaster Anastasiya Karlovich.

Visit uschesschamps.com for more information.

About the Saint Louis Chess Club

The Saint Louis Chess Club is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons, and special lectures.

Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit saintlouischessclub.org.