New York, Dec 31: Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali showcased her skill by winning the women’s qualifier to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Blitz Championship here.
Following Koneru Humpy’s stellar performance, which earned her the gold medal and a prize of USD 60,000, it was Vaishali’s turn to impress her fans. She triumphed in the women’s section, scoring 9.5 points, with three draws on her way to a 9.5/11 performance.
Russian Kateryna Lagno came closest to Vaishali, scoring 8.5 points, while the remaining six qualifiers finished with an identical 8 points. Despite meeting the points criteria, Humpy was eliminated due to the worst tiebreaker, finishing ninth.
In the open section, ten players tied for first place, including world number one Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen scored when needed and drew six of his 13 games, finishing among the co-leaders at the end of the qualifiers.
Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi won the qualifier with 9.5 points, benefiting from the best tiebreak, while Fabiano Caruana of the United States finished second, ahead of Carlsen, who placed third.
Surprisingly, none of the Indians made the top eight, despite some early promising performances.
Erigaisi Arjun played brilliantly at the start, securing victories in the first five rounds but faded to finish with a subpar seven points. R Praggnanandhaa was the best-placed Indian, with 8.5 points, but a last-round loss to Russian Daniil Dubov cost him a spot in the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Vaishali will face Chinese Grandmaster Zhu Jiner.
Vaishali’s back-to-back victories against GMs Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia and Valentina Gunina of Russia in rounds 7-8 provided the necessary boost for the Indian player to top the event with ease.
Indian standings open: R Pragnanandhaa (8.5) – 23; Raunak Sadhwani (8) 46; Arjun Erigaisi (7) 64; Aravindh Chithambaram (7) 68; V Pranav (7) 67;
Women: R Vaishali (9.5) 1; K Humpy (8) 9; Divya Deshmukh (7) 18; Vantika Agarwal (7) 19; D Harika (7) 22.
The Qualifiers: Open: 1-8; Ian Nepomniachtchi, Volodar Murzin (Both Fide); Fabiano Caruana, Hans Niemann Moke, Wesley So (all USA); Magnus Carlsen (Nor); Duda Jan-Kryzsztof (Pol); Alireza Firoujza (Fra).
Women 1-8: R Vaishali (Ind); Lei Tingjie, Wenjun Ju, Zhu Jiner (all Chn); Kateryna Lagno, Valentina Gunina (Both Fide); Carissa Yip (Usa) Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz).(PTI)
