Ideas, Openings & Improvement

Bibisara Assaubayeva capped Norway Chess Women 2026 with the biggest rating gain among the women's top 10 this July. Here is how she won it.

A 15-year-old Ukrainian WFM entered as the 76th seed in a 165-player field and walked out as European Women's Champion, with a 2580 performance rating.

She entered as the lowest-rated player in the field. She left as the Women's World Championship challenger, and one half of chess's first sibling GM pair.

IM Alice Lee did not just beat the Women's World Champion, she dominated her, winning every segment of the match by a wide margin. Here is how.

She dominated women's speed chess in the 2010s. In 2026, at the Women's Speed Chess Championship, Hou Yifan reminded everyone she never actually left.

FIDE Master at 7. World Blitz Champion at 17. Three world titles by 21. Her Norway Chess Women win is not a breakthrough, it is the next expected chapter.

It was not just that a 15-year-old won. It was who was not there to stop her, and how deep the field she beat actually was. Here is the full picture.