World Blitz championship | India's star chess player Koneru Humpy on Friday bagged a Silver medal in the women's section of the FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship. The Indian ace made a superb comeback after a modest run in the initial phase to take the medal. She defeated Zhongyi Tan in the 17th and final rounds.
After posting only four wins from the first nine rounds on Thursday and being placed in the mid-40s, the 35-year-old Humpy was in top form on day two of the competition, registering seven impressive wins and drawing with compatriot Dronavalli Harika in the 14th round. She finished on 12.5 points, just half a point behind the winner Bibisara Balabayeva of Kazakhstan.
One of the highlights of Humpy's performance on the day was a defeat of China's Zhongyi Tan in the 17th and final round to dent her opponent's chances of adding to the gold medal in the World Rapid tournament. Humpy had finished sixth in the Rapid championship which preceded the Blitz competition. She is a former winner of the World Rapid title.
"It was a perfect day for me with 7.5 points out 8 games, fetching the first ever silver medal in the women's world Blitz chess championship!" Humpy wrote on Twitter. Harika, who finished with 10.5 points had to settle for the 13th spot while Padmini Rout was 17th. Tania Sachdev ended up 21st and B Savitha Shri, winner of bronze in the Rapid championship was placed 33rd with 9.5 points in a strong field.
In the Open event, won by world No.1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway with 16 points, no Indian player could manage a top-10 finish. The experienced P Harikrishna was the best Indian in the Open section, taking a 17th-place finish with 13 points with Nihal Sarin a spot behind with an equal number of points. Fast-rising Arjun Erigaisi, the highest-seeded Indian here, wound up 42nd after a patchy display which saw him lose games 16, 17 and 18. Compatriot Vidit Santosh Gujrathi's form was also up and down and he finished a lowly 90th.
Carlsen added the Blitz title to the world rapid title he won on Wednesday. Despite suffering reverses at the hands of Russian players Ian Nepomniatchi in the 15th round and Alexey Sarana, the Norwegian won his games in the 20th and 21st rounds against Aleksandr Shimanov and Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov to finish a point clear of Hikaru Nakamura (15 points).
