2024 Cairns Cup: Rounds Four through Six Recap and Annotations

The 2024 Cairns Cup in St. Louis is heating up as the penultimate round is currently underway. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who has been playing aggressively in pursuit of her first Cairns Cup title, has had a rollercoaster of a tournament so far. After finally securing her first draw in round five, Kosteniuk suffered a surprising loss to IM Alice Lee in round four. However, she bounced back with a win in round six over GM Mariya Muzychuk, keeping her in joint second place with GM Harika Dronavalli, just half a point behind the leader, GM Tan Zhongyi.

Kosteniuk’s journey through rounds four to six has been eventful, with annotations on her key games provided by WGM Begim Tokhirjonova. Despite the ups and downs, Kosteniuk remains a strong contender in the tournament.

The middle third of the event saw a relative lull in decisive results, with Tan Zhongyi’s impressive victory over IM Anna Zatonskih in round four being a standout moment. Many games were on a knife’s edge, with players narrowly missing out on potential wins.

As the tournament heads towards its conclusion, the final rounds promise to be intense and exciting. Stay tuned for the final report on Monday, with annotations by WGM Katerina Nemcova. In the meantime, catch the live coverage of round eight today at 1:00 p.m. CDT, with the final round set to take place tomorrow. The competition is fierce, and anything can happen in the remaining games of the 2024 Cairns Cup.