Vaishali’s back-to-back victory against Georgian grandmaster Nana Dzagnidze and Russian Valentina Gunina in rounds 7-8 provided the required impetus for the Indian player to easily win the championship.
Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali demonstrated her talent by winning the women’s qualifying and advancing to the quarterfinals of the World Blitz Championship. Following Koneru Humpy’s outstanding performance, which earned her the gold medal and a USD 60,000 award, it was Vaishali’s chance to captivate her fans. She won the women’s segment with 9.5 points and three draws, giving her a total of 9.5/11. Russian Kateryna Lagno came closest to Vaishali, scoring 8.5 points, while the other six qualifiers finished with an identical 8 points. Despite achieving the points criteria, Humpy was eliminated owing to the poorest tiebreaker and finished ninth.
Magnus Carlsen, the top player in the world, was one of ten players who tied for first place in the open section. Carlsen finished among the co-leaders at the end of the qualifications, scoring when needed and drawing six of his 13 games.
With the best tiebreak, Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi won the qualifying with 9.5 points, while American Fabiano Caruana came in second, ahead of Carlsen in third.
Despite some early strong performances, it was surprising that none of the Indians placed in the top eight.After winning the first five rounds with outstanding tennis, Erigaisi Arjun faltered and finished with a poor seven points. With 8.5 points, R Praggnanandhaa was the top-seeded Indian, however he missed out on a quarterfinal berth after losing to Russian Daniil Dubov in the last round.
Vaishali will play Chinese Grandmaster Zhu Jiner in the quarterfinals.
In rounds 7-8, Vaishali defeated GMs Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia and Valentina Gunina of Russia back-to-back, giving the Indian player the boost she needed to win the tournament handily.
