World Rapid Chess Championship: Vaishali R positions second and Koneru Humpy places third

Vaishali R, a twenty-year-old Indian player, is in second place in the women's segment of the World Blitz Chess Championship with 7.5 points after nine rounds, while her countrywoman Koneru Humpy is tied for third.

On the first day of the Blitz championship, Vaishali, the sister of Indian chess prodigy and GM R Praggnanandhaa, defeated Ukrainian Mariya Muzychuk and Russian Valentina Gunina.

Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan is the leader with eight points after nine rounds late on Wednesday. Vaishali defeated Polina Shuvalova (Russia) in the ninth round and will now face Assaubayeva.

Humpy, the country's top player, is tied for third position with Russian Alexandra Kosteniuk, who overcame a first-round loss to Ekaterina Atalik of Turkey, and another Kazakh woman, 21-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik. In the ninth round, Humpy defeated Aleksandra Goryachkina, and in the tenth round, she will face Kosteniuk.

Humpy had finished sixth in the Rapid event with 7.5 points.

Vantika Agarwal and Padmini Rout, the other Indians, are ranked 32nd and 57th, respectively, with 5 and 4.5 points.

Magnus Carlsen, the defending champion, had a rough start in the open event, losing three games on the opening day and falling a point and a half behind tournament leader Levon Aronian.

On 10/12, Aronian (who won the global blitz in 2010) sat alone at the top, losing only one game while defeating all of his significant opponents. He has yet to face both the defending champion Carlsen and American Hikaru Nakamura (who has won the silver medal in the previous edition of the event).

In a 72-move game with black pieces, Arjun Erigaisi, an eighteen-year-old Indian GM, held world No. 1 Carlsen to a draw in the 12th round. He is in 12th place with 8.5 points, the most among Indian players in the Open event.

GM D Gukesh, who finished a creditable 9th in the World Rapid Championship, sits in 81st place after scoring 6.5 points in 12 rounds. With 8.5 points, Vidit Gujrathi, who shared first position with compatriot Nihal Sarin in round 12, is the next highest placed Indian behind Erigaisi, in 27th place. P Harikrishna (7.5 points) is 35th, followed by Gujrathi (7.5 points) (7 pts, 48th).

Abhimanyu Puranik (6.5 points, 60th), Hasha Bharathakoti (6.5, 64th), Raunak Sadhwani (6, 90th), Mitrabha Guha (6, 95th), S L Narayanan (5.5, 109th), Sankalp Gupta (5.5, 119th), and Aditya Mittal (5.5, 119th) are the other Indians in the open section (3.5, 170th).

In the open category, Egypt's Bassem Amin has surprised everyone thus far by ending day one alone in second place with 9.5 points, followed by Parham Maghsoodloo, the top Iranian player and previous junior world champion, with 9 points. They are being pursued by a field of 12 grandmasters, all of whom have 8.5 points, including defending champion Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daniil Dubov, Alexander Grischuk, and Hikaru Nakamura, one of the best blitz players in the world, who has drawn five games in a row.

Abhimanyu Puranik (6.5 points, 60th), Hasha Bharathakoti (6.5, 64th), Raunak Sadhwani (6, 90th), Mitrabha Guha (6, 95th), S L Narayanan (5.5, 109th), Sankalp Gupta (5.5, 119th), and Aditya Mittal (5.5, 119th) are the other Indians in the open section (3.5, 170th).

In the open category, Egypt's Bassem Amin has surprised everyone thus far by ending day one alone in second place with 9.5 points, followed by Parham Maghsoodloo, the top Iranian player and previous junior world champion, with 9 points. They are being pursued by a field of 12 grandmasters, all of whom have 8.5 points, including defending champion Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daniil Dubov, Alexander Grischuk, and Hikaru Nakamura, one of the best blitz players in the world, who has drawn five games in a row.

On 8/12, the third tier of players will be led by local favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda and will include former world chess champion and 2016 World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin.