The Pro Chess League is a $150,000 16-player team tournament taking place on Chess.com, featuring Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and many more top players. The first five weeks are a Swiss tournament where teams that score 3 wins advance straight to the 8-team Playoffs, while teams with 3 losses are eliminated.

The Playoffs are held as a single elimination knockout, with quarterfinals, semifinals, a final and a 3rd place playoff. Each team has 6-10 players, but only 4 play each week, with an average rating cap of 2550 and at least one woman in each line-up. Each member of the team plays each member of the opposing team at 10+2 rapid chess. In case of a tie the players play another round of games at a faster time control.

Special guest on Thursday’s show Magnus Carlsen

Race to Semifinals is On! | Shanghai Tigers vs Norway Gnomes | QF 1 | Pro Chess League 2023

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Rapid Women teams match «Kazakhstan vs World»

Blitz Women teams match «Kazakhstan vs World»

Kazakhstan vs the World: best female players will face off in Astana

KAZAKHSTAN VS WORLD WOMEN BLITZ 2023 — LIVE

One of the side events of the 2023 FIDE World Championship Match will be… another match, where best female players from Kazakhstan will face off with the team of the world.

Kazakhstan is known for the strength of its female players. They have conquered many pinnacles in the recent years. 19-year-old prodigy Bibisara Assaubayeva is the reigning two-time Women’s World Blitz Chess Champion. Dinara Saduakassova brought home silver from the 2022 FIDE Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship. Zhansaya Abdumalik won 2021 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Gibraltar with 8½/11, finishing in clear first by 1½ points and meeting the requirements for the Grandmaster title.

One of the measures of country’s strength is the average rating of its top-10 players. In the women’s list, Kazakhstan is currently number 10, led by an ambitions powerhouse of GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (2497), IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2440), and IM Dinara Saduakassova (2434).

The time has come to test Kazakhstan’s muscles against the strongest female players from all over the world! The ladies will clash in rapid on 17-18 April and blitz on 19 April.
Each team will consist of eight players, a combination of youth and experience as four of them must fall into age groups of U20, U18, U16, and U14. Girls will play against girls in corresponding age groups, and four women will meet other four women in all-play-all Scheveningen format. The final result of the match is defined, counting all the individual points together. In case of an equal number of points the result is draw.

The lineups boast the strongest female players

TEAM WORLD (rapid rating)

GM Hou Yifan (China, 2618)
GM Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2462)
GM Harika Dronavalli (India, 2447)
IM Gunay Mammadzada (Azerbaijan, 2348)
U20 IM Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria, 2347)
U18 WIM Zsoka Gaal or Savitha Shri B (Hungary, 2187/ India, 2281)
U16 WIM Zsoka Gaal or Savitha Shri B
U14 WFM Afruza Khamdamova (Uzbekistan, 2135)

Team Captain: WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Deputy Chair of Management Board, International Chess Federation

TEAM KAZAKHSTAN (rapid rating)

GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (2454)
IM Dinara Saduakassova (2402)
IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2359)
WIM Meruert Kamalidenova (2273)
U20 WIM Liya Kurmangaliyeva (2152)
U18 FM Kseniya Balabaeva (2111)
U16 WIM Alua Nurmanova (2193)
U14 WFM Zarina Nurgalieva (2070)

Team Captain: WGM Gulmira Dauletova, Executive Director, Kazakhstan Chess Federation
Kurmangaliyeva and Balabaeva came out on top of the special qualification event that was held to determine the spots in the team for this prestigious match.

fide.com