Garifullina Wins Blitz, Joins Yip in Grand Final Lineup

Leya Garifullina won the Blitz knockout at the WR Women's Chess Tour 2026 Americas Leg, avenging her Rapid semi-final defeat to Carissa Yip along the way and sealing her own place at the Grand Final in Stuttgart this November — alongside Yip herself. Live commentary again came from José Martínez Alcántara and Harshit Raja.

Quarterfinals

Garifullina opened with a 2.5-0.5 win over Ashley Castillo. Alice Lee swept Carolina Luján 3-0, Carissa Yip swept Patricia Castillo Peña 3-0, and — in the day's biggest shake-up — Megan Paragua beat Rapid runner-up Deysi Cori 3-1, ending Cori's run in the Americas leg at the quarter-final stage.

Semifinals: Garifullina turns the tables on Yip

Alice Lee eased past Paragua 2.5-0.5 to reach the final. In the other half, Garifullina came from behind against Yip — losing the first game before winning the next three — to close out the match 3-1 and reverse the result of their Rapid semi-final, where Yip had swept her 2-0 the day before.

Final: no losses for Garifullina

Garifullina beat Lee 3-1 in the final, taking two wins and two draws without dropping a single game. It was enough to deny Lee a share of the Americas leg's two Grand Final berths.

Alice Lee didn't quite make it to the Grand Final – this time.

Qualification: Yip and Garifullina both through to Stuttgart

Under the Tour's regulations, the two Grand Final spots from Punta Cana go to whoever finishes 1st and 2nd in the combined Rapid and Blitz standings — not simply to the winner of each event. Points are awarded per event (10 for 1st, 8 for 2nd, 5 for a semi-final finish, 2 for a quarter-final finish), and the two totals are added together.

Yip's Rapid title (10 points) plus her Blitz semi-final finish (5 points) gave her 15. Garifullina's Rapid semi-final finish (5 points) plus her Blitz title (10 points) also gave her 15 — a dead heat at the top, broken in Yip's favour by the tour's tiebreak rule, which favours the better Rapid result. Both finish inside the top two and both qualify. Lee, despite her strong run to the Blitz final, finished on 13 points and misses out; Cori's Rapid runner-up finish (8 points) wasn't enough to survive her early Blitz exit, leaving her on 10.

Yip and Garifullina now join Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno, the winners from the Tokyo leg in June, in the Grand Final field at Rosenstein Palace, Stuttgart, on 22–23 November — half the eight-player lineup now set with two continental legs still to come.

Combined standings (Rapid + Blitz points, top 2 qualify for Stuttgart)

Player	Rapid	Blitz	Total
Carissa Yip	10	5	15
Leya Garifullina	5	10	15
Alice Lee	5	8	13
Deysi Cori	8	2	10
Megan Paragua	2	5	7
Carolina Luján / Ashley Castillo / Patricia Castillo Peña	2	2	4