IMs Carissa Yip and Leya Garifullina won the rapid and blitz segments (respectively) of the WR Women’s Chess Tour – Americas 2026 on Wednesday and Thursday. Along with the $7,000 first prize, they both qualify for the Grand Final in Stuttgart, Germany at the end of the year.
The next leg of the inaugural tour takes place in Mozambique on August 21-22.
The WR Women’s Chess Tour is a new tournament series that spans four continents. Four tournaments will take place, culminating in a Grand Final: in Japan (in June), the Dominican Republic (in July), Mozambique (at the end of August), and France (at the end of August)—then the Grand Final in Germany (at the end of November). The tour started this June in Tokyo, and the event that just concluded in Punta Cana is the second leg of the event.
Each leg lasts two days, with rapid on the first and blitz on the second. The day consists of an eight-player single-elimination knockout, with a rapid time control of 15+10 and a blitz time control of 3+2. Rapid matches are best-of-two and blitz matches are best-of-four, with armageddon tiebreaks if needed.
The winner of each event (rapid and blitz separately) earns $7,000 and a seat in the Grand Final later this year.
GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno were the winners of the event in Tokyo, and with two more, we now have half the field set for the Grand Final.
Yip Wins Rapid With 3 Sweeps
Rapid Bracket
On her way to the rapid title, Yip swept all her matches 2-0. In order, she defeated IM Carolina Lujan, Garifullina, and finally IM Deysi Cori. She said afterward, “I was honestly nervous in general because I think rapid is like my biggest time control. I just played in Hong Kong, where, yeah, I played awful in the rapid.”Â
In the first match against Lujan, game one was a long, tense game that ended with a tactical sequence. With just over 30 seconds, Lujan captured the knight on f4 (instead, the king had to move), and Yip noticed that the rook on h2 hangs at the end of the line. The game ended quickly after that capture on f4.
As Yip took that match, the other quarterfinals ended in favor of Lee (1.5-0.5 vs. IM Alexandra Castillo), Cori (1.5-0.5 vs. FM Megan Paragua), and Garifullina (2-0 vs. WFM Patricia Castillo).
The American IM then took down Garifullina in the Semifinals, 2-0 again. Game one featured a nice exchange sacrifice, followed by the quiet killer move 27.Qe1!. Though the position was equal in computer terms, it was impossible to handle in a rapid game, and Black fell apart.
In the other semifinal, Cori defeated Lee 2-1 in tiebreaks, reaching the Final against Yip. With one last sweep against the Peruvian IM, Yip secured her spot in the Grand Final.
In game one of the match, Yip exemplified the notion that sometimes the best defense is offense. After losing a pawn, Cori sacrificed her entire queenside, and then the center, for a desperate attack against the enemy king, but it was Yip who both (a) trapped the queen and (b) checkmated the king, with the latter played on the board.
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Garifullina Wins Blitz With No Losses In Final
Garifullina won the blitz portion after defeating Alexandra Castillo 2.5-0.5, Yip 3-1 (sweet revenge), and Lee 3-1 again.Â
Blitz Bracket
The first match was smooth, with Garifullina winning both games from the white side of the Sicilian Defense (Dragon in the first game, Rossolimo in the second). The first game was an opening catastrophe, but it did show viewers why 14…f5? isn’t played in one of the main lines in the Dragon.Â
Meanwhile, in the other quarterfinal matches, Lee beat Lujan 3-0, Paragua beat Cori 3-1, and Yip beat Patricia Castillo 3-0.Â
In her next match, Garifullina lost the first game against Yip but went on to win the next three. 10.e6! in game four spelled disaster for the American in the Modern Defense, as often this pawn break is good even as a sacrifice. In the game, Garifullina got all of the attack with none of the sacrifice.
In the other semifinal, Lee defeated Paragua 2.5-0.5 to get to the final stage. However, Garifullina would win with two wins and two draws, no losses—preventing the American duo from reaching the Grand Final together..
Game one was an equal Petroff for most of it, but in the end Garifullina managed to create problems with an outside passed a-pawn. With the limited time control, Lee could not solve her problems.
After two draws, Garifullina won the last game to take the match. Curiously, the second draw featured a king and pawn endgame where both players overlooked winning moves as they went for a threefold repetition. 51.Ke5 was findable for White, while 51…f4!! was much more difficult, even if the resource was available for many moves.
Congratulations to both players as they get ready to meet again this November at the Grand Final in Germany!
How to watch?
Rapid:Â
WR Women’s Chess Tour – Americas 2026, held in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic, on July 1-2, is the second leg of the inaugural tournament series. It consists of two separate eight-player single-elimination knockouts, one rapid and one blitz, each with its own prize fund and Grand Final qualification spot. The rapid time control is 15+10 and the blitz is 3+2. The total prize fund is $40,000, with half allocated for the rapid and the blitz.