 "R Vaishali won a bronze medal at the FIDE Blitz Championship in New York. Image: X / @FIDE_chess")
Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali won bronze medal in the women’s section of the 2024 World Blitz Chess Championship in New York on Tuesday. Vaishali got the better of China’s Zhu Jiner 2.5-1.5 in the quarter-finals , but went down to Ju Wenjun of China 0.5-2.5 in the semi-finals.
Later, in an all-Chinese final, Ju Wenjun defeated Lei Tingjie 3.5-2.5. Vaishali had qualified for the quarter-finals by topping the standings with 9.5 out of a possible 11 points. With the rest of the Indian contingent, including Koneru Humpy, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa being knocked out, Vaishali was the only player in contention for a medal as far as Indians were concerned.
Magnus Carlsen shares World Blitz Championship title with Ian Nepomniachtchi
In a historic outcome in the open section, World No 1 Magnus Carlsen shared the World Blitz Championship title with Ian Nepomniachtchi. Carlsen and Ian locked horns in the final of the open section. It was after three consecutive draws in the sudden death that the two agreed to share the title.
Carlsen began the final with two victories, and only needed a draw to secure the title. However, Ian fought back with two wins to level the scores 2-2 and enforce a sudden death. It was Carlsen’s suggestion that both the players share the title after three consecutive draws in the sudden death. After a few discussions, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and both the players decided to share the title, marking the first-ever time that two players were jointly declared winners of the competition.
“It feels very good to share gold with Nepo. We reached a point where it had been a long day. We played many games, we had three draws and I felt that I could keep playing. But it was a nice solution to share the win, it was a good way to end it,” Carlsen told NRK, a Norwegian media outlet.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAt the press conference, Carlsen said that people have to accept the outcome even if they like it or not. “People of course understand that we are both tired and nervous. Some people are going to like it; some are not going to like it. Is the way it is,” he said.
Last week, Carlsen was disqualified from the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in controversial fashion. Going against FIDE rules, Carlsen wore jeans on the second day of the Rapid Championship competition. He was soon disqualified from the tournament but announced a couple of days later that he would return to play the Blitz Championship by wearing jeans , after the FIDE relaxed rules.