Fast Chess, Big Hearts: The Women's Speed Chess Race (Last 24 Hours)

Some chess games take five hours. The games we are talking about today take five minutes. Sometimes only one. This is speed chess, and right now the best women in the world are playing it. Blink, and you can miss a whole game.

The event is the 2026 Women's Speed Chess Championship. Sixteen top players are fighting in it. They play online, from all over the world. The winner takes the biggest share of a $75,000 prize. And in the last 24 hours, the race got very exciting.

How the games work

Each match has three parts. First the players get 5 minutes each. Then 3 minutes. Then just 1 minute. That last part is called "bullet." Moves come so fast that hands can barely keep up. It is thrilling to watch, and hard to play. One small slip, and the game is gone.

What just happened

In the last round, two players won their way through.

GM Kateryna Lagno was on fire. She started her match with seven wins in a row. She beat Karina Ambartsumova by a huge score, 10.5 to 3.5. Even when Lagno was losing a game, she often found a way to draw or win it anyway.

The other match was much closer. IM Alice Lee played former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Lee fell behind early. But she stayed calm and fought back. The score was tied after all the normal games, so they went to a tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Lee was simply better. She won and moved on. Lee is special for another reason too: earlier this year she became the first woman to reach a 3000 bullet rating on Chess.com.

Today's games to watch

Two more matches are being played today, Friday, July 10. Here they are:

Divya Deshmukh, from India, is one of the brightest young stars in the game. Bibisara Assaubayeva, from Kazakhstan, is a two-time world blitz champion and loves fast chess. Both are big favorites, but in speed chess anything can happen.

Why this is fun

Speed chess is chess with the volume turned up. There is no time to think for long. Players trust their instincts. They make bold moves. They laugh at their own mistakes. Even the great Judit Polgar, who is helping to host the show, joked that she has "never played a bullet game" in her life.

Waiting at the top of the bracket is the reigning Women's World Champion, Ju Wenjun. Alice Lee will have to face her next. Lee knows it will be hard. "I'll just have to focus on improving," she said. That is a good lesson for all of us, on the board and off it.

The whole event runs until the end of July. New matches come almost every day. So if you are new to chess, this is a lovely place to start. The games are short. The drama is big. And the players show us that with a clear mind and a brave heart, you can turn any match around.