Women’s World Blitz Championship 2024: Vaishali remains unbeaten, qualifies for knockouts with 9.5/11
Women’s World Blitz Championship 2024: Vaishali remains unbeaten, qualifies for knockouts with 9.5/11
Grandmaster R. Vaishali was class apart on Tuesday as she qualified for the knockout stage of the Women’s World Blitz Championship 2024 after winning eight of her first 10 matches in New York.
Vaishali was also the lone Indian to qualify for the second stage after newly crowned World Rapid Champion, Koneru Humpy agonisingly missed out on the top eight, finishing in ninth place with 8.0/11.
Barring China’s Lei Tingjie, who finished second behind Vaishali with a return of 8.5 points, all other qualified players ended up with equal points as Humpy. However, the Indian had the worst tiebreaks which saw her finish just outside the qualification spot.
Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Harika Dronavalli finished 18th, 19th and 22nd respectively with seven points each in 11 rounds.
Priyan Nutakki and Padmini Rout were 71st and 72nd with five points in a 108-player field.
Among Indians, Sahithi Varshini had the worst finish with 4.5 points, placing herself 76th.
More to follow
