Kashlinskaya Wins Tbilisi Grand Prix, Earns 2nd GM Norm
IM Alina Kashlinskaya beat GM Mariya Muzychuk in the final round to clinch sole first place in the 2024 Tbilisi FIDE Women's Grand Prix. Her win earned her €18,000 (~$20,000), 130 Grand Prix points, and a second GM norm. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva took second place after making an early draw in the final round, while GMs Anna Muzychuk and Nana Dzagnidze and IM Stavroula Tsolakidou shared third place.
The final round saw two decisive games, with Kashlinskaya winning the big one to clinch the title, while Dzagnidze bounced back to beat IM Sara Khadem and join the tie for third place.
Round 9 Results
The final standings saw three IMs at the top, with Kashlinskaya half a point clear of Assaubayeva, who was another half-point clear of the pack in third place. Grand Prix points and prize money are shared among players on the same number of points.
Final Standings
| Rank | Title | Name | FED | Rating | Score | GP Points | Prize money |
| 1 | IM | Alina Kashlinskaya | 2474 | 6 | 130 | €18,000 | |
| 2 | IM | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 2470 | 5.5 | 105 | €13,000 | |
| 3= | IM | Stavroula Tsolakidou | 2429 | 5 | 71.67 | €8,667 | |
| 3= | GM | Nana Dzagnidze | 2506 | 5 | 71.67 | €8,667 | |
| 3= | GM | Anna Muzychuk | 2525 | 5 | 71.67 | €8,667 | |
| 6 | GM | Mariya Muzychuk | 2508 | 4.5 | 50 | €6,000 | |
| 7= | GM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 2506 | 4 | 35 | €4,750 | |
| 7= | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2488 | 4 | 35 | €4,750 | |
| 9 | IM | Lela Javakhishvili | 2451 | 3.5 | 20 | €4,000 | |
| 10 | IM | Sara Khadem | 2489 | 2.5 | 10 | €3,500 |
Kashlinskaya and her husband GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek became parents to a son in September 2023, and motherhood has gone spectacularly well on the chessboard since. Kashlinskaya won her first Polish Women's Championship in May and has now scored one of the best results of her career to win the first Grand Prix on the 2024-5 circuit. She stormed to the finish with three wins in the final four games.
The last win over Mariya Muzychuk was a model game, as Kashlinskaya gradually took over on the black side of a Ruy Lopez and never put a foot wrong as she finished things off in style.
Kashlinskaya said afterward:
"I’m extremely happy. I don’t know what to say—I didn’t prepare to win this tournament, so I’m speechless now! I’m happy that I won a decent game, and the result overall is overwhelming."
I didn't prepare to win this tournament, so I'm speechless now!
—Alina Kashlinskaya
That win means a 2611 rating performance and a grandmaster norm for Kashlinskaya, who already has a norm and has crossed 2500 in her career. One more norm will be enough to give her the grandmaster title.
Assaubayeva could have picked up a third grandmaster norm if she'd beaten GM Vaishali Rameshbabu with the black pieces, but instead she chose to make a draw by three-fold repetition in a position where she still seemed to have an advantage. Kashlinskaya commented:
"I saw that Vaishali was in time trouble and they got a Najdorf. It's Bibisara's style, and also she has more time, so somehow in my head I understood she would win this game, and then I was surprised that they made a draw."
That decision by Assaubayeva backfired after Kashlinskaya's win. On the other hand, 105 Grand Prix points and €13,000 are very healthy returns for the 20-year-old Kazakh player.
The players who took third place had very different final rounds. Anna Muzychuk made a quiet draw against GM Lela Javakhishvili, while Tsolakidou came close to beating GM Alexandra Kosteniuk before ultimately allowing a draw by perpetual check in a queen endgame. That meant it had been eight draws after a round-one win for Grand Prix debutant Tsolakidou.
Dzagnidze has been the most combative player in Tbilisi, and she showed her fighting spirit once again as she bounced back from defeat in the penultimate round to beat Khadem. The Iranian-born Spanish star struggled at the start and end of the event, and after surviving a difficult middlegame let the game slip in one move when she played 28.f4?. Dzagnidze didn't need to be asked twice to win a crucial pawn and the game!
Although Kashlinskaya won the Tbilisi Women's Grand Prix, she was taking part only as a wild card and won't have another two events to boost her score unless other players drop out. The overall goal of the Grand Prix series in 2024 and 2025 is to finish in the top two and qualify for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament, with the next of the six events slated for Shymkent, Kazakhstan, at the end of October.
How to rewatch?
You can rewatch the broadcast on FIDE's YouTube channel. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated 2024 Tbilisi FIDE Women's Grand Prix events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and GM Valeriane Gaprindashvili.
The 2024 Tbilisi FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the first of six legs of the 2024-2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The 10-player round-robin ran August 15-24 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Players had 90 minutes per game, plus 30 minutes from move 40, with a 30-second increment per move. The top prize is €18,000 (~$20,000), with players also earning Grand Prix points. Each of the 20 players competes in three of the six events, with the top two overall qualifying for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament that decides the World Championship challenger.
Previous Coverage:
- Round 8: Kashlinskaya Catches Leader Before Final Round In Tbilisi
- Round 7: Assaubayeva Beats Kosteniuk, Grabs Sole Lead
- Round 6: Kashlinskaya Beats Vaishali, Joins Leaders In Tbilisi
- Round 5: Sara Khadem, Nana Dzagnidze, Mariya Muzychuk All Score 1st Wins
- Round 4: Kosteniuk Joins Grand Prix Leaders
- Round 3: Vaishali Breaks The Deadlock In Tbilisi
- Round 2: Vaishali, Dzagnidze Miss Wins In Tbilisi
- Round 1: Assaubayeva, Tsolakidou Win As Muzychuk Sisters Improve On Nakamura-Vidit
- FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-2025: All The Info
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
