World Blitz Women 2024: Vaishali dominates the Swiss league, advances to the Quarterfinals

by Shahid Ahmed - 31/12/2024

GM R Vaishali won the Swiss league stage of World Blitz Women 2024 convincingly. She decimated the field by scoring an unbeaten 9.5/11 and finished a full point ahead. Her Quarterfinal opponent will be - GM Jiner Zhu (CHN). The newly crowned, two-time World Rapid Women 2024 champion, GM Koneru Humpy was the only other Indian who was closest to make it to the Knockout stage. She scored 8/11, however, Jiner edged past her due to better tie-breaks. In the Open section, ten players scored 9.5/11. They are - Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Alireza Firouzja, Hans Niemann, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Volodar Murzin, Daniel Naroditsky and Daniil Dubov. However, only the top eight advances to the KO stage. Hence, Naroditsky and Dubov got eliminated. Quarterfinals start today at 2 p.m. local time, next day 12:30 a.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Open: Top ten score 9.5/13, Ian Nepomniachtchi at the front

GM Daniel Naroditsky's (USA) three-move draw against GM Wesley So (USA) proved to be the costliest draw for him. He did not have the best tie-breaks, moreover too many players ending with 9.5/13 did not help his case, despite a fantastic five-game winning streak. He denied himself a double hat-trick and a spot in the Quarterfinals. Only R Praggnanandhaa had a practical chance of advancing to the Quarterfinals. However, a loss against the World Rapid 2018 champion, GM Daniil Dubov, shattered all his chances.

GM R Vaishali will be the sole Indian in the Knockout stage | Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Open: GM Ian Nepomniachtchi finished at the top of pack | Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Round 1: Wild card Harshit Raja stuns Ray Robson

GM Harshit Raja (2451) got a wild card in the Blitz event. In the first round, he got the better of GM Ray Robson (USA, 2656).

Magnus Carlsen arrives 72 seconds late in a 3-minute game | Video: ChessBase India

Round 2: Pranav checkmates MVL

The reigning World Blitz Under-18 Open 2024 champion, GM Pranav Venkatesh (2572) checkmated World Blitz 2021 champion, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2776).

Round 3: Aravindh stuns Nakamura, Carlsen fumbles against Bok

GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2618) defeated the World no.3, GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2860) in their very first Blitz rated game. World no.1 and the defending World Blitz champion, GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2890) fumbled in a winning pawn endgame and ended up in a Stalemate combination by GM Benjamin Bok (NED, 2627).

Aravindh - Nakamura

Position after 15...Bxc4??

Nakamura blundered 15...Bxc4?? Aravindh played 16.a3 to gain material. However, the conversion was not easy. Nakamura fought back but eventually in the endgame he made a mistake again and lost the game.

Bok - Carlsen

Position after 48...b6??

Magnus Carlsen started making hand moves in a completely winning pawn endgame and played 48...b6?? when b5 was winning. GM Benjamin Bok (NED, 2627) found the only way to salvage a half point 49.Ka4! and now it's a draw no matter what Black chooses to do. 49...Kxc4 runs into a stalemate.

Benjamin Bok (NED) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Round 3 | Video: ChessBase India

GM Pranav Venkatesh completed his hat-trick by scoring a nice win over GM Yangyi Yu (CHN, 2728).

Round 4: Arjun gets the better of Aravindh

After winning against Nakamura, Aravindh faced his compatriot, World no.4 Arjun Erigaisi. The latter avenged last month's Chennai Grand Masters loss.

Round 7: Vaishali beats Dzagnidze, gains sole lead

GM R Vaishali's (2359) kingside attack overwhelmed GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO, 2371).

Fans watch Vaishali en route her victory against Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) | Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Pranav won a well contested battle against GM Wei Yi (CHN, 2719).

Round 8: Gunina runs out of time against Vaishali

GM Vaishali defeated the defending World Blitz Women champion, GM Valentina Gunina (2374) to maintain her sole lead 7.5/8.

Vaishali defeats the defending champion GM Valentina Gunina | Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Round 9: GM Tingjie Lei (CHN) - GM Vaishali: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Round 10: Vaishali beats Shuvalova, almost guarantees her spot in the KO

GM Vaishali got the better of IM Polina Shuvalova (2415) to virtually secure her place in the Knockout stage. She moved her score to 9/10 and had a full point lead heading into the final round. A draw in the final round would be enough to secure her place in the Quarterfinals. That is exactly what she did by making a draw against IM Carissa Yip (USA, 2285).

GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR) - GM Hans Niemann (USA), Round 11 | Video: ChessBase India

A highly anticipated battle between Magnus Carlsen (NOR) and Hans Niemann (USA) | Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR) - GM Daniel Naroditsky (USA), Round 11 | Video: ChessBase India

Carlsen - Sevian, Round 12

Position after 66.a4

In an extremely complex endgame, GM Samuel Sevian (USA, 2693) moved 66...Kc6?? right away when he needed to play Ke7 first after a pawn trade on b5, only then shifting the king to the queenside would have been a good idea. The game continued 67.f6 Nxf6 68.Bxf6 Kd5 69.Kd2?? presented Black's final opportunity to save the game c3+! 70.Bxc3 Kc4 and it would have ended in a draw. These are not easy to calculate in Blitz when you are down to last few seconds on the clock. 69...Kc6?? and Black went on to lose the game.

World Blitz 2024 Open Knockout stage brackets | Photo: FIDE

World Blitz 2024 Women Knockout stage brackets | Photo: FIDE

Photo Gallery

GM Boris Gelfand (ISR), GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (CUB) and GM Wesley So (USA) signs autographs for their fans | Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza

Magnus Carlsen high-fives a kid after his penultimate round win over GM Samuel Sevian (USA) | Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza

Bruce Pandolfini, considered to be one of the most experienced American chess teachers official commentary team with GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko (UKR) and GM Maurice Ashley (USA) | Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza

A view from the top during Round 12 Open | Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza

Replay live stream

Replay Live Commentary of World Blitz Day 1 by FI Niklesh Jain from 2 p.m. local time, next day 12:30 a.m. IST | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 1-13 Open games

Replay Round 1-11 Women games

Round 13 Open results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	2	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2871	9	½ - ½	9	GM	Carlsen, Magnus *)	2890	1	PGN
2	4	GM	So, Wesley	2803	9	½ - ½	9	GM	Naroditsky, Daniel	2711	17	PGN
3	41	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2629	9	½ - ½	9	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	2796	5	PGN
4	9	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2770	9	½ - ½	9	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2709	18	PGN
5	16	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2716	8½	0 - 1	8½	GM	Dubov, Daniil	2784	6	PGN
6	13	GM	Aronian, Levon	2737	8½	0 - 1	8½	GM	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	2776	7	PGN
7	10	GM	Bortnyk, Olexandr	2762	8	1 - 0	8½	GM	Bok, Benjamin	2627	43	PGN
8	23	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2693	8	½ - ½	8	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	2593	57	PGN
9	24	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2692	8	1 - 0	8	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	2593	58	PGN
10	48	IM	Bortnyk, Mykola	2616	8	1 - 0	8	GM	Giri, Anish	2659	31	PGN

Details

Round 11 Women results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	21	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2359	9	½ - ½	7½	IM	Yip, Carissa	2285	42	PGN
2	1	GM	Lei, Tingjie	2491	8	½ - ½	7½	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2444	5	PGN
3	17	GM	Gunina, Valentina	2374	7½	½ - ½	7½	GM	Ju, Wenjun	2480	3	PGN
4	6	IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2443	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Muzychuk, Anna	2402	12	PGN
5	29	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2333	7	0 - 1	7	GM	Zhu, Jiner	2434	7	PGN
6	10	GM	Koneru, Humpy	2414	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	2371	19	PGN
7	30	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2333	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	2415	9	PGN
8	16	IM	Garifullina, Leya	2382	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Paehtz, Elisabeth	2321	32	PGN
9	63	WCM	Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene	2224	6½	0 - 1	6½	IM	Narva, Mai	2336	24	PGN
10	27	IM	Wagner, Dinara	2335	6½	1 - 0	6½	IM	Sargsyan, Anna M.	2298	37	PGN

Details

Final standings in Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	9	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	FID	2770	9,5	102,5	107,5	2699
2	5	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	USA	2796	9,5	101	107	2721
3	1	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2890	9,5	101	107	2715
4	4	GM	So, Wesley	USA	2803	9,5	100,5	107	2697
5	2	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	FRA	2871	9,5	100,5	106	2723
6	18	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2709	9,5	99	104,5	2701
7	7	GM	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	POL	2776	9,5	97,5	103,5	2677
8	41	GM	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2629	9,5	95,5	99,5	2639

Details

Final standings in Women

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	21	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2359	9,5	72,5	76,5	2350
2	1	GM	Lei, Tingjie	CHN	2491	8,5	67,5	71,5	2304
3	5	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	FID	2444	8	73,5	79	2354
4	17	GM	Gunina, Valentina	FID	2374	8	72,5	76,5	2351
5	3	GM	Ju, Wenjun	CHN	2480	8	70,5	76,5	2321
6	42	IM	Yip, Carissa	USA	2285	8	69,5	73,5	2341
7	6	IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	KAZ	2443	8	63	67	2284
8	7	GM	Zhu, Jiner	CHN	2434	8	62	66	2266

Details

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