15-year-old IM Alice Lee perfect on Day 1 of Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship 2024

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The FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship 2024 commenced yesterday in New York, USA, with five rounds on the schedule in the Open championship and four rounds were played in the Women’s event.

15-year-old IM Alice Lee (USA, 2415 rapid rating) emerged as the sole leader of the FIDE Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship 2024, as the only player with a perfect score of 4/4 points. Alice Lee took down defending World Women’s Rapid Chess Champion GM Valentina Gunina (FIDE, 2388 rapid rating) in the fourth round, after a thrilling game which had many turnovers, but finished with Gunina flagging down.

In the interview with WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, Alice confessed she got lucky in a couple of games, but couldn’t hide the happiness that she’s the sole leader in the event.

As many as five players follow Alice Lee, scoring 4.5 points: GM Ju Wenjun (China, 2536 rapid rating), GM Tan Zhongyi (China, 2502 rapid rating), GM Harika Dronavalli (India, 2416 rapid rating), GM Nino Batsiashvili (Georgia, 2333 rapid rating) and IM Gunay Mammadzada (Azerbaijan, 2319 rapid rating).

As in the Open section, some of the top seeds of the Women’s event suffered major upsets, including second seeded GM Lei Tingjie (China, 2518 rapid rating) who scores 2.5/4 points after an upsetting loss in the first round against 19-year-old WGM Nadya Toncheva (Bulgaria, 2283 rapid rating). Fourth-seeded GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (Switzerland, 2486 rapid rating) scores 3 points, while fifth seeded GM Zhu Jiner (China, 2449 rapid rating) scores 2.5 points.

19-year-old WGM Nadya Toncheva🇧🇬 upsets 2nd-seeded GM Lei Tingjie🇨🇳 and wins the R1 of the @FIDE_chess Women’s Rapid Championship!

Toncheva this year already left a remarkable impression at @ECUonline Women’s Championship, tied from 2-9 place & qualified for the next World Cup! pic.twitter.com/vZyf5lM5yB

— Chess Topics (@ChessTopics) December 26, 2024

Standings after 4 played rounds – World Women’s Rapid Chess Championship 2024:

Rk.		Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.
1	IM	Lee, Alice	USA	2415	4
2	GM	Ju, Wenjun	CHN	2536	3.5
3	GM	Tan, Zhongyi	CHN	2502	3.5
4	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2416	3.5
5	GM	Batsiashvili, Nino	GEO	2333	3.5
6	IM	Mammadzada, Gunay	AZE	2319	3.5
7	GM	Gunina, Valentina	FID	2388	3
8	GM	Muzychuk, Anna	UKR	2408	3
9	WGM	Uuriintuya, Uurtsaikh	MGL	2188	3
10	IM	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	MGL	2299	3
11	WIM	Khamdamova, Afruza	UZB	2188	3
12	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	FID	2355	3
13	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	FID	2433	3
14	IM	Garifullina, Leya	FID	2336	3
15	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2355	3
16	WGM	Munkhzul, Turmunkh	MGL	2333	3
17	GM	Paehtz, Elisabeth	GER	2406	3
18	IM	Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra	POL	2269	3
19	IM	Bulmaga, Irina	ROU	2378	3
20	IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	KAZ	2444	3
21	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	SUI	2486	3
22	IM	Mammadova, Gulnar	AZE	2289	3
23	WGM	Sliwicka, Alicja	POL	2206	2.5
24	IM	Song, Yuxin	CHN	2347	2.5
25	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	AZE	2237	2.5
26	IM	Yip, Carissa	USA	2389	2.5
27	IM	Sukandar, Irine Kharisma	INA	2354	2.5
28	GM	Zhu, Jiner	CHN	2449	2.5
29	IM	Wagner, Dinara	GER	2307	2.5
30	WGM	Kurmangaliyeva, Liya	KAZ	2128	2.5
31	IM	Balajayeva, Khanim	AZE	2242	2.5
32	WGM	Yu, Jennifer	USA	2296	2.5
33	IM	Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim	USA	2307	2.5
34	IM	Skripchenko, Almira	FRA	2295	2.5
35	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	IND	2352	2.5
36	FM	Peycheva, Gergana	BUL	2222	2.5
37	GM	Lei, Tingjie	CHN	2518	2.5
38	GM	Koneru, Humpy	IND	2431	2.5
39	WGM	Charkhalashvili, Inga	GEO	2289	2.5
40	GM	Zhu, Chen	QAT	2330	2.5
41	WGM	Abrahamyan, Tatev	USA	2305	2.5
42	IM	Guichard, Pauline	FRA	2316	2.5
43	IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	GRE	2381	2.5
44	GM	Muzychuk, Mariya	UKR	2422	2.5
45	IM	Injac, Teodora	SRB	2295	2
46	IM	Kamalidenova, Meruert	KAZ	2368	2
47	WIM	Kairbekova, Amina	KAZ	2256	2
48	WIM	Sultanbek, Zeinep	KAZ	2001	2
49	IM	Garcia Martin, Marta	ESP	2291	2
50	GM	Zhao, Xue	CHN	2433	2
51	IM	Kashlinskaya, Alina	POL	2378	2
52	WGM	Mamedjarova, Turkan	AZE	2109	2
53	WGM	Toncheva, Nadya	BUL	2283	2
54	IM	Melia, Salome	GEO	2252	2
55	WIM	Agrest, Inna	SWE	2248	2
56	IM	Cori T., Deysi	PER	2243	2
57	FM	Sahithi, Varshini M	IND	2329	2
58	WCM	Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene	MGL	2281	2
59	IM	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	FID	2302	2
60	WIM	Mou, Iris	USA	2226	2
61	WGM	Priyanka, Nutakki	IND	2256	2
62	IM	Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat	ESP	2359	2
63	WGM	Belenkaya, Dina	ISR	2136	2
64	IM	Kiolbasa, Oliwia	POL	2291	2
65	WGM	Nurman, Alua	KAZ	2260	2
66	WIM	Nilssen, Ellen Fredericia	DEN	2071	2
67	GM	Danielian, Elina	ARM	2301	2
68	GM	Krush, Irina	USA	2382	2
69	IM	Sargsyan, Anna M.	ARM	2306	2
70	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2393	2
71	IM	Narva, Mai	EST	2384	2
72	WGM	Huang, Qian	CHN	2399	2
73	GM	Zhukova, Natalia	UKR	2242	1.5
74	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	KAZ	2247	1.5
75	WGM	Pourkashiyan, Atousa	USA	2277	1.5
76	WGM	Heinemann, Josefine	GER	2218	1.5
77	IM	Lu, Miaoyi	CHN	2317	1.5
78	IM	Padmini, Rout	IND	2267	1.5
79	WFM	Kaldarova, Ayaulym	KAZ	2011	1.5
80	WFM	Kaliakhmet, Elnaz	KAZ	2162	1.5
81	WGM	Beydullayeva, Govhar	AZE	2212	1.5
82	WFM	Paragua, Megan Althea	USA	2017	1.5
83	WIM	Mkrtchyan, Mariam	ARM	2136	1.5
84	GM	Khotenashvili, Bella	GEO	2394	1.5
85	WCM	Lesbekova, Assel	KGZ	1973	1.5
86	FM	Jarocka, Liwia	POL	2127	1.5
87	IM	Kulon, Klaudia	POL	2258	1
88	WFM	Castillo Beitia, Ashley Alexandra	PAN	1927	1
89		Lyutsinger, Iren	FID	2140	1
90	WGM	Wu, Rochelle	USA	2217	1
91	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	GEO	2436	1
92		Machlik, Monika	NOR	2079	1
93	WCM	Derlich, Sarah Sima	DEN	1807	1
94	FM	Melekhina, Alisa	USA	2139	1
95	WGM	Ouellet, Maili-Jade	CAN	2149	1
96	WFM	Nurgaliyeva, Zarina	KAZ	2175	1
97	WGM	Krasteva, Beloslava	BUL	2196	1
98	IM	Javakhishvili, Lela	GEO	2321	1
99	WGM	Mamedjarova, Zeinab	AZE	2194	1
100	WIM	Serikbay, Assel	KAZ	2121	1
101	WGM	Cervantes Landeiro, Thalia	USA	2244	1
102	WIM	Munkhzul, Davaakhuu	MGL	2006	1
103	WFM	Noshin, Anjum	BAN	1910	1
104	WGM	Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	USA	2296	1
105	WIM	Stanford, Sheila Barth	NOR	2103	0.5
106	WFM	Sevcikova, Lucia	SVK	2132	0
107		Naisanga, Sheba Valentine	UGA	1626	0
108	WCM	Berezovska, Svetlana	MNC	1850	0
109	WCM	Berezovsky, Fiorina	MNC	1786	0
110	WFM	Durrfeld, Sofie Bech	DEN	1875	0