World Championships Rapid and Blitz: Vaishali enters quarters of blitz, others fade away

Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali surprised herself with a stellar performance to enter the quarterfinals of the World Blitz Championship here, even as recently-crowned rapid champion Koneru Humpy made an early exit.

Following Humpy’s stellar performance in rapid, which earned her the gold medal and a prize of $60,000, it was Vaishali’s turn to impress her fans. She scored 9.5 points out of a possible 11 to top the qualifying round.

“I’m very happy with today’s performance. Tomorrow will be a big day. Honestly, it (performance) was completely unexpected. I was not expecting the result like how it went today. Tomorrow, I have to be ready and prepare well and then see,” she said.

Russian Kateryna Lagno came closest to Vaishali, scoring 8.5 points, while the remaining six qualifiers finished with an identical eight points. Despite meeting the points criteria, Humpy was eliminated due to the worst tiebreaker, finishing ninth.

In the quarterfinal, Vaishali will face Chinese Grandmaster Zhu Jiner.

In the open section, 10 players were tied for first place, including world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. 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 was placed third.

Surprisingly, none of the Indians made the top-eight. Arjun Erigaisi played brilliantly at the start, securing victories in the first five rounds, but faded away to finish with a sub-par 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.