SPTW March 2026 Newsletter
Editorial
By Lorin D'Costa, Founder and CEO of She Plays To Win
February saw the final list of qualifiers for the Athena Finals, the live final She Plays To Win brand event which will be held in March. Report to come in April on those results.
Thanks to our partnership with Chesskid, the official learning partner of She Plays To Win, we were invited to bring 20 girls to the Chess.com Speed Chess Finals in The Strand, London. Report and photos of that event below — the girls had so much fun, and got to meet and have photos with top players Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura!
We also announce our Chesskid prizewinners from February. These are earned through attempting the stars and puzzles each month on the Chesskid platform. For your daughter to win free 1-1 lessons with WIM Camelia Ciobanu, do encourage her on the Chesskid platform and have a go!
Finally, the advice from ‘Diary of a Secret Chess Girl’ is well worth a look. She gives her top tips for girls and I hope this is inspiring for the girls to read.
Lorin D'Costa
Founder & CEO, She Plays To Win
Charity Number: 1210171
sheplaystowin.co.uk
Chess.com Speed Chess Finals, Strand, London
The Strand, London was the scene of the Chess.com Speed Chess Championships held on 7th and 8th February.
This involved 4 top superstars: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Denis Lazavik.
She Plays To Win already has a partnership with Chess.com, as their Chesskid app is our official learning partner for girls. We were invited to attend as VIPs as part of their ‘Chess is For Everyone’ project.
Chess For Everyone: At Chess.com, we are focused on growing chess as a positive influence in the world, where every person can enjoy the game, connect with others, and be accepted in the community. We strive for broad representation in our product and content and to build a diverse global company.
This resonates with She Plays To Win, where we need to grow the numbers of girls playing chess. With roughly 8% participation in the UK, and in most countries worldwide, it is clear to see a lot of work and promotion needs to be done in this area.
The invited She Plays To Win girls with GMs Lazavik, Nakamura and Firouzja. Girls were excited to have photos and signings with the top chess stars.
Mary and Kayal, two of our top Under 10 stars, were specially invited to the Friday morning press conference. Here World Number 1 Magnus Carlsen (right) and Hikaru Nakamura answer Mary and Kayal's questions on how we can encourage girls in chess, and what part of practicing do they enjoy the most.
She Plays To Win girls were joined by Bodhana (centre) in the venue as part of their VIP tour.
Bodhana takes on SPTW
Superstar Bodhana Sivanandan on behalf of Chess.com offered to play 5 of the girls attending a chance to take her on in a blitz game (3 minutes per player plus 2 seconds a move added).
She was very tired at the end — the girls were motivated to give her a scare, and every game was not easy for Bodhana!
Sivanandan, Bodhana – Korsunsky, Alexandra
Chess.com blitz friendly game, 06.02.2026
Annotated by Lorin D'Costa
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5
Alexandra plays her favourite Caro-Kann Defence.
3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 e6
6...Nd7 7.h4 h6 White can't play the Ne5 line Bodhana played in the game 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.0–0–0 Here black has two options: Qc7 and 0–0–0, or Be7, 0–0.
7.h4 h6 8.Ne5 Bh7 9.Bd3
Here Alexandra was about to play Bxd3 but paused as she noticed she could take the pawn on d4. She spent some time checking if this was possible.
9...Qxd4 10.Nxf7!
Bodhana knows the right idea
10...Bxd3
10...Kxf7 11.Bg6+ Bxg6 12.Qxd4 wins the queen.
11.Nxh8 Qe5+
11...Bb4+ 12.Bd2 Bxd2+ 13.Qxd2 Qxb2 14.Rd1 Qe5+ 15.Ne2 Qxe2+ 16.Qxe2 Bxe2 17.Kxe2 white is up an exchange (rook for knight).
12.Be3
12.Ne2 Bh7 13.h5 Nf6 14.Ng6 Bxg6 15.hxg6 Nbd7.
12...Bb4+
12...Bh7 13.0–0 Ne7 14.Bd4 Qd5 15.h5 the knight on h8 will come out to g6.
13.c3 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Qxc3+ 15.Bd2 Qe5+ 16.Ne4
16.Ne2! Bxe2 17.Ng6! Qf6 18.Kxe2 Qxg6 19.Kf1 Nd7 20.Rh3 0–0–0 computer gives white +2 points advantage. However I don't think the position is that clear. 16.Be3 Qc3+ 17.Bd2 Qe5+ black can make a perpetual check and a draw.
16...Qxe4+ 17.Be3
17...Qb4+
17...Nf6 18.Qb3 c5 19.Rd1 c4 20.Qb5+ Nbd7.
17...Qxg2! black has a great position 18.Kd2 Qd5 black can castle the king safely, the knight on h8 still has problems getting out.
18.Qd2 Bb5
In time trouble Alexandra unfortunately blunders her queen.
19.Qxb4 1-0
A tough game!
Bodhana (left) very kindly gave up her time to take on 5 She Plays To Win girls at blitz at the Chess.com event in the Strand, London. 9-year-old Alexandra (right) gave her a tough battle!
Diary of a Secret Chess Girl
Dear Diary,
A couple of days ago, I played an away match against a local (adult) chess club. I played on board five of my team and the time control was 75+10. The game was forty-five moves long and ended in a loss for me. The position below is from my game and it was move 9. I had a winning move, Bxc6, Bxc6, Nxe5, hxe5, Nxf7+ which would have forked the king and rook. At the time, the move Bxc6 did not occur to me as a good move, instead I played Be3. When analysing it after the game, I saw it and I recognised the winning move.
About a week ago, I played in the junior blitz tournament in my local club and I scored quite highly. The time control was 3+2 and the games I lost, I lost on time. All my games involved various chess tactics, such as forks, pins and skewers. One of my endgames was interesting, we each had a rook and knight, but I had one pawn as well. Our kings were very far from the action, so it was up to my opponent's pieces to stop me from promoting. In the end, I promoted to a queen and checkmated my opponent a couple of moves after that. Regardless of the outcome, it was a well-played and dynamic game for both sides. I find blitz chess especially difficult, because I have to process their move, think about my move and play it in a limited amount of time. I much prefer standard play as it is more relaxed and slower, rather than fast pace and intense. However, blitz chess is a test of intuition, time management, and knowledge of various positions. Ways to improve blitz chess are by playing puzzles, knowing your openings well and recognising good moves, blunders and tactics.
Chess can not only support academic studies and concentration, but it can also be used to gain confidence especially for girls and teach them about inspiring female players which would encourage motivation. The number of girls playing chess competitively is significantly less than the number of boys playing chess so clubs such as SPTW can help girls rebuild the confidence to carry on.
Chess.com, Chesskid and Lichess are different ways to play chess, puzzles, learn about openings, middlegames and endgames.
Thank you for reading and I hope you take my pieces of advice on board!
Chesskid
Well done to the following girls for winning 1-1 lessons via coming 1st and 2nd in the Puzzles and Stars leaderboards for January. These girls all win 1-1 lessons with Woman International Master, Coach Cami!
Puzzles:
1st - BusyJuniorMove
2nd - IcyDottedFawn
Stars:
1st - NearChattyPeanut
2nd - GoldinspiredPhoenix
Chesskid — Official Learning Partner
Chesskid is the Official Learning Partner of She Plays To Win. Learn about the Gold Membership and how your daughter can learn from home using their puzzles and videos:
