Wenjun Ju conquers Tata Steel India 2023 Women Blitz, Humpy second and Harika third
The four-time reigning Women's World Champion - GM Wenjun Ju (CHN) became Tata Steel Chess India 2023 Women Blitz champion. Despite starting with only 0.5/3 on the final day, the World no.2 woman scored 5.5/6 in the last six games to reassert her dominance. It was a closely fought event as after Round 16, three players GM Koneru Humpy, GM Harika Dronavalli and Wenjun were at 10.5/16 each. In the final round, Humpy defeated Divya, Wenjun beat GM Anna Ushenina (UKR) and Harika lost to IM Polina Shuvalova. Thus, Wenjun won the tournament 12.5/18. Humpy second 12/18, Harika secured third place 10.5/18. The Rapid event for Men starts today from 3 p.m. IST. Photos by IA Vivek Sohani/Tata Steel Chess India unless stated otherwise
A close race to the finish line
In the post-tournament press conference, GM Wenjun Ju (CHN) felt that her games in the Rapid event were better than the Blitz. On the final day, she started with a loss against GM Koneru Humpy, then she drew against IM Divya Deshmukh, before losing another game to GM Irina Krush (USA). After that she scored 5.5/6 in the next five games to win the tournament. The first prize in Rapid was US$ 10000, for Blitz it was US$ 7500.
The scores before the final round were: Wenjun 11.5/17, Humpy 11/17, Harika 10.5/17 and Divya 10.5/17. Wenjun defeated GM Anna Ushenina (UKR) 7/18 to become the clear champion 12.5/18. Humpy won against Divya to secure second place 12/18. Harika lost to IM Polina to finish third 10.5/18.
Draw of Lots for the Men
World Blitz 2021 winner and the one who had a peak rating of 2948 in Blitz which is the highest ever, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) tweeted
Replay the live stream
Replay Blitz Round 10-18 games
Round 18 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
| 1 | 10 | 2231 | WGM | Divya, Deshmukh | 0 - 1 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2460 | 5 | |||
| 2 | 4 | 2361 | GM | Ushenina, Anna | 0 - 1 | GM | Ju, Wenjun | 2536 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2172 | WIM | Savitha, Shri B | 0 - 1 | GM | Krush, Irina | 2367 | 7 | |||
| 4 | 2 | 2231 | GM | Batsiashvili, Nino | 1 - 0 | IM | Vantika, Agrawal | 2267 | 8 | |||
| 5 | 1 | 2429 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 0 - 1 | IM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2306 | 9 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | ||
| 1 | 6 | GM | Ju, Wenjun | CHN | 2536 | 12,5 | 0 | 0 | 97,00 | 11 | 6 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | IND | 2460 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 108,50 | 9 | 5 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | IND | 2429 | 10,5 | 0 | 2 | 91,75 | 7 | 3 | |
| 4 | 10 | WGM | Divya, Deshmukh | IND | 2231 | 10,5 | 0 | 0 | 80,25 | 8 | 4 | |
| 5 | 9 | IM | Shuvalova, Polina | FID | 2306 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 81,00 | 8 | 5 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | Krush, Irina | USA | 2367 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 77,25 | 6 | 3 | |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Ushenina, Anna | UKR | 2361 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 61,25 | 5 | 2 | |
| 8 | 8 | IM | Vantika, Agrawal | IND | 2267 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 61,75 | 5 | 2 | |
| 9 | 2 | GM | Batsiashvili, Nino | GEO | 2231 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 46,75 | 4 | 2 | |
| 10 | 3 | WIM | Savitha, Shri B | IND | 2172 | 5,5 | 0 | 0 | 48,50 | 4 | 2 |
Men Round 1 Rapid pairings
| Round 1 on 2023/09/05 at 1500 h | ||||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
| 1 | 1 | 2709 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2755 | 10 | ||||
| 2 | 2 | 2694 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | 2646 | 9 | ||||
| 3 | 3 | 2651 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2731 | 8 | ||||
| 4 | 4 | 2675 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2633 | 7 | ||||
| 5 | 5 | 2680 | GM | Radjabov, Teimour | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2703 | 6 | ||||
