Vaishali, Murzin & favorites into Knock-out @ World Blitz New York
Indian Grandmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu (9.5/11) powered her way to the knock-out after 11 rounds in the FIDE Women’s World Blitz chess championship 2024 at CIPRANI 55 Wall Street, New York here today. The six day USD 1.5 million year end chess bonanza concludes tomorrow when the knock-outs on both sections are played out from the quarter-final stage onwards.
Preliminaries winner GM Vaishali Rameshbabu now faces GM Zhu Jiner of China in a four game quarter-final scheduled for tomorrow. Nine wins and two draws placed Vaishali on top of the qualifying pool. Other seven players qualifying for the knock-out stage are Lei Tingjie (Chn), Lagno Kateryna, Gunina Valentina (both Russia), Ju Wenjun (Chn), Yip Carissa (USA), Assaubayeva Bibisara (Kaz), Zhu Jiner (Chn). Newly crowned world rapid champion Koneru Humpy narrowly missed out qualifying, finishing 9th with 8.0 points.
The 18-year-old World Rapid Champion, Volodor Murzin (9.5/13), continued his impressive run qualifying for the Knock-out in the Open section of the world blitz championship. Murzin locked the 8th and final spot for the knock-out and would meet fellow Russian Nepomniachtchi in the quarter-final. Joining Murzin through to the next stage are illustrious list of Grandmasters viz., Caruana Fabianao (USA), Carlsen Magnus (Nor), So Wesley (USA), Firouzja Alireza (Fra), Niemann Hans Moke (USA), Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol), Nepomniachtchi Ian (Rus) respectively.
In a curious incident, that raised eye-brows, GM Dubov Daniil (Russia) failed to turn up for his 10th round game against American Grandmaster Niemann Hans Moke. The full time of 3 minutes and 2 seconds ran out and when the clock showed 00:00:00 Niemann left the board and was awarded the full point. GM Levon Aronian (USA) with an ELO 2805 performance, had the highest tie-break score but an unfortunate final round loss against GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Poland) saw him out of contention.
Post patch up with FIDE, defending world blitz champion Magnus Carlsen, returned to his favorite style of play, the quick play blitz chess. Starting with two comfortable wins, Carlsen relaxed a bit, when the third round saw him fall for a stalemate trick against GM Benjamin Bok of Netherlands. He steadied the ship with three further wins, before four draws in a row put him on the edge. A crucial win against GM Samuel Sevian (USA) in the penultimate round saved the day for the Norwegian, taking him safely to the next day. Carlsen now faces his bête noire GM Hans Moke Niemann (USA) in a four game quarter final match-up. The whole world will closely follow this slugfest and one could already feel the palpable excitement among the fans.
The quarter final line up in the Open section reads: Nepomniachtchi Ian vs Volodar Murzin, Firouzja Alireza vs So Wesley, Carlsen Magnus vs Niemann Hans Moke, Duda Jan-Krzysztof vs Caruana Fabiano. Big names missing out on qualification were Hikaru Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave Maxime, Erigaisi Arjun, Aronian Levon, Praggnanandhaa R, Abdusattorov Nodirbek to name a few.
In the women’s section the knock-out lineup is: Vaishali Rameshbabu vs Zhu Jiner, Ju Wenjun vs Gunina Valentina, Lagno Kateryna vs Yip Carissa, Assaubayeva Bibisara vs Lei Tingjie. All the quarter-finals begin by 2 PM tomorrow and the prize function is scheduled by 7 PM New York time.
Round 13 Standings (Open): 1-10 Nepomniachtchi Ian (Rus), Caruana Fabianao (USA), Carlsen Magnus (Nor), So Wesley (USA), Firouzja Alireza (Fra), Niemann Hans Moke (USA), Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol), Murzin Volodar (Rus), Naroditsky Daniel (USA), Dubov Daniil (Rus) 9.5 pts (188 players).
Round 13 Standings (Women): 1 Vaishali Rameshbabu (Ind) 9.5, 2 Lei Tingjie (Chn) 8.5, 3-9 Lagno Kateryna, Gunina Valentina (both Russia), Ju Wenjun (Chn), Yip Carissa (USA), Assaubayeva Bibisara (Kaz), Zhu Jiner (Chn), Koneru Humpy (Ind) 8.0, 10 Wagner Dinara (Ger) 7.5 pts (108 players).
Picture courtesy: FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://worldrapidandblitz2024.fide.com/
