India could be World Champions in 'Test, ODI & T20I of chess' by New Year's Day
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India could have world champions in all formats of chess on New Year's Day as GM Vaishali R has emerged as the favourite in the World Women's Blitz Chess Championship in New York.
The 23-year-old from Tamil Nadu is the only Indian to reach the knockouts in both the men's and women's sections combined. Vaishali will play China's Zhu Jiner in the quarterfinals after midnight Indian time.
Should Vaishali emerge the winner, she will become India's third World champion in chess this year after D Gukesh (World classical chess champion, men) and Koneru Humpy (World Rapid champion, women). What more, Indian men and women are also the reigning Chess Olympiad champions.
To put it in cricket terms, it would be like India being world champions in Test, One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals simultaneously. Classical chess, which is played with the longest time control is like Test cricket, while Rapid that is normally played with a control of 15 minutes plus at least 10 seconds increment per move, could be considered the ODI of chess. Blitz, the fastest format, played on a time control of three minutes (plus at least 2 seconds increment) is the T20I of chess.
On Tuesday, Vaishali was not just one of the qualifiers; she was the ace of the pack.
After 11 rounds of blitz, Vaishali was ranked first, finishing a full point clear (9.5) of second-placed Lei Tingjie (8.5) of China. She was dominant throughout, winning eight and drawing the remaining three rounds. Freshly-crowned World Rapid champion Humpy was unlucky to miss out on the last eight as she finished ninth.
Vaishali is the elder sister of GM R Praggnanandhaa. Her brother was the best-ranked Indian in the men's category. However, his 24th rank was not sufficient to make the knockouts. Praggnanandhaa finished on 8.5 points from 13 rounds, while World Rapid champion Volodar Murzin completed the final eighth position with 9.5 points.
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen is among the quarterfinalists. The Norwegian, who returned to competition after walking out of the Rapid event following a dispute with FIDE, went unbeaten in the 13-round blitz competition.