World Blitz Championship: India’s Koneru Humpy won silver medal in women’s section
India’s experienced player Koneru Humpy won the silver medal after narrowly missing out on a narrow margin in the women’s section of the FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship here on Friday. Humpy put up a strong performance to beat Zhongyi Tan, who recently won the world rapid title, in the 17th and final round. The 35-year-old Humpy was ranked 44th in the table after recording just four wins in the opening nine rounds on Thursday but won seven out of eight on the second day of the event to draw a 14th-round tie with compatriot Dronavalli Harika.
Humpy scored 12.5 points, just half a point less than gold medalist Bibisara Balabayeva of Kazakhstan. Harika finished 13th with 10.5 points while Padmini Raut finished 17th. Tania Sachdev finished 21st. In the rapid championship, bronze winner B Savita Sri finished 33rd with 9.5 points.
Magnus Carlsen, the world’s number one player in the open category, won the title. This Norwegian player had 16 points. No Indian player could make it to the top-10. Veteran P Harikrishna finished 17th with 13 points. Nihal Sarin remained at the 18th position. Arjun Erigey, the top seed in the tournament, suffered defeats in the 16th, 17th and 18th rounds. He finished 42nd. Vidit Santosh Gujarati finished 90th.
