IM Eline Roebers of the Netherlands revealed after qualifying for the 2024 Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship that she completed the entire Swiss part by train, using her phone. She arrived home “just in time” as the knockout phase began and defeated Indian WGM Priyanka Nutakki in the semifinals and American IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova in the final. Tokhirjonova had defeated Vietnamese IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham in the other semifinal.
For the first time in the Play-In Qualifiers, four players were tied for the top spot with 8/11 and all qualified for the knockout phase.
The final qualifying match for the Main Event, Play-In 4, will take place on Friday, August 16, starting at 11:00 a.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST.
Julius Baer Women’s Rapid Chess Championship, Play-In 3: KO
Julius Baer Women’s Rapid Chess Championship, Play-In 3: Swiss System
Play-In 3: Switzerland
Two young players provided the necessary excitement in the first rounds, for different reasons. The first games of the 14-year-old Indian WFM Shubhi Gupta (one of the four surprising semi-finalists of Play-In 1) caused two dramatic incidents.
After benefiting from her opponent’s failure, Gupta had even more luck in the second round.
Although they add excitement, such dramatic incidents in the final seconds, not to mention exceeding the time limit, show the entertaining but cruel nature of blitz chess. Commentator IM Jovanka Houska summed it up as follows: “The final seconds – sometimes it feels like a lottery. You win, you lose… luck of the draw.”
The last seconds – sometimes it feels like a lottery. You win, you lose… luck of the draw.
—Jovanka Houska
But another young player played impressively in the early rounds, confirming the theory that good blitz play is an indication of a player’s intuitive abilities. We can add the caveat that this is true, provided you have enough time on the clock.
The nine-year-old prodigy WFM Bodhan Sivanandan Translation of England dazzled early by playing an impressive final in the second round.
In the next round, Bodhana performed even better, beating Roebers, the eventual winner.
Commentator GM Daniel Naroditsky was very impressed with Bodhana’s play and praised her highly: “This is a phenomenal game. She’s only nine years old. I mean, come on!”
This is a phenomenal game! She’s only nine years old. I mean, come on!
—Daniel Naroditsky
Aside from the excitement and demonstration of impressive intuition, it is always a joy when we can see aesthetic beauty on the board.
As expected, there were inevitable heartbreaking moments. Joint winner Nutakki benefited from a serious mistake by her opponent, WCM Maya Porozhnyak, in a time battle.
Porozhnyak did not continue playing in the tournament.
But otherwise it was an impressive tournament performance by Nutakki, who had to beat tournament leader Roebers with the black pieces on the top board in the last round to qualify for the knockout tournament.
Tokhirjonova qualified for the knockout by defeating fellow countrywoman WGM Tatev Abrahamyan in the last round; this happened due to a strange mistake by her opponent.
Pham has an appealing dynamic style, which she executed well, scoring a decisive win over the impressive Polish IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya in the penultimate round.
Play-In 3: KO
Semifinal: Roebers 3.5 – 1.5 Nutakki
Roebers admitted in the post-tournament interview that she was quite nervous throughout the knockout phase, but this did not show in her matches. Although the match seemed to be tied at 1.5-1.5 after three games, Roebers led the next two games effectively to secure a smooth victory.
Semifinal: Tokhirjonova 4:2 Pham
The first game of the tournament was marked by an incredible mistake.
Ouch!https://t.co/mVtwLsXdzI#FastChess pic.twitter.com/yOQ0hI8SQV
— chess24 (@chess24com) 15 August 2024
Pham never seemed to fully recover from this oversight and gave Tokhirjonova a convincing win in the match.
Final: Roebers 4-1 Tokhirjonova
After winning the first two games, Roebers won the error-ridden third game to take the lead in the match. However, her skill really came to the fore in the fourth game, when she played admirably dynamic chess, won a smooth game and cemented her triumph in the final.
The Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship is a Chess.com event featuring some of the world’s strongest female chess players competing for a prize fund of $75,000. The main event will feature 16 players competing in a single-elimination format in 5+1, 3+1, and 1+1 time control matches. Four spots will go to the winners of four play-ins, which will be held August 12-16 and are open to all titleholders. In each play-in, the top four players will qualify for a Swiss-based single-elimination tournament.
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