NE SPORTS BUREAU
CHENNAI, MAY 30
Indian Grandmaster P Iniyan on Sunday qualified for the FIDE World Cup, scheduled to be held in July, by winning the AICF World Cup qualifier online chess tournament.
Iniyan and fellow GM from Tamil Nadu, D Gukesh had finished on 12.5 points each after 17 rounds but the former took the top prize since he had emerged winner in the match between the two in round 14.
Iniyan entered the final day with 10.5 points in his pocket and ahead of Gukesh by half a point. He defeated Rithwik Raja in the 15th round and P Saravana Krishnan in the 16th before losing to Deep Sengupta.
However, the defeat in the 17th round did not prove costly.
He scored 12 wins and suffered three losses in the tournament. The Salem-based GM had scored wins over fancied B Adhiban in the second round apart from scoring GMs SL Narayanan and Vishnu Prasanna but lost to Surya Sekhar Ganguly.
GM S P Sethuraman finished third behind Iniyan and Gukesh with 10.5 points while Ganguly (10 points) took the fourth spot.
The FIDE World Cup will be played from July 10 at Sochi in Russia. “I am delighted to win the event and qualify for the World Cup. I am happy with the way I played in the tournament which featured some very good players,” the 18-year-old Iniyan said.
“I had some good games in the tournament. The win over Gukesh who was playing really well, was an important one and gave me a lot of confidence,” he added. Iniyan said he was looking forward to competing the World Cup in Sochi. “It has been a long time since I have played a tournament over the board. I have been keeping myself busy training and playing online events. But a tourney over the board is something I look forward to always,” he added. Iniyan further said he would continue to train with his coach K Visweswaran in the lead-up to the World Cup which would feature the cream of the chess talent.
Apart from Iniyan, a few other Indians are likely to qualify for the World Cup by virtue of their world rankings.
FIDE is expected to announce the official list of participants for the tournament sometime next week.
Vaishali wins Speed Chess Championship Qualifier-2
India’s R Vaishali on Sunday won the women’s Speed chess online championship qualifier 2, beating Polina Shuvalova of Russia in the final.
The 20-year-old from Chennai, a woman Grandmaster, became the second Indian to qualify for the main event of the 2021 women’s Speed Chess Championship.
“I am very happy with my performance as it has come in a very strong field. I played some very good games,” Vaishali, sister of Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, said. The tournament was a nine-round Swiss tournament with the top eight finishers advancing to the knockout playoff stage.
In the semifinals, Vaishali defeated Bibisara Assaubayeva 2-0 and then edged out Shuvalova in the final.
She lost the first game on time despite outplaying her opponent. However, she bounced back and check-mated the Russian in the second to level the score. The third and final game was a roller-coaster. The Indian obtained a promising position from the opening but a hasty queen sacrifice appeared to set her back. However, a blunder by Shuvalova cost her dear and allowed Vaishali to secure victory.
Indian WGM D Harika had won the first qualifier to book a spot in the main event.
A total of eight qualifiers will be played and the winners will be joined by eight invited players – GM Koneru Humpy (India), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), GM Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), GM Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), GM Irina Krush (USA), GM Kateryna Lagno (Russia) and GM Lei Tingjie (China) – in the main event to be played from June 10 to July 3.
Vaishali said she had played with her brother which helped her to prepare for the event. Vaishali, who has qualified for the FIDE World Cup to be held in Sochi, Russia from July 10, said she was looking forward to playing the event (an over-the-board one) in which the best players will be taking part.
Apart from Vaishali, Koneru Humpy, Harika, Padmini Rout and Bhakti Kulkarni will be taking part in the World Cup.
“It (the World Cup) is a big event, a super strong event in which the best players will be taking part. I want to give my best and am preparing as well as I can,” Vaishali said. She is practising by playing over the board games with her brother and also training with coach R B Ramesh.
“I am playing with Praggu and look to learn from him. I hope this will be a great help when I get back to the over the board event.” Vaishali is also aware that not having played an across the board event since February 2020, she needs to make the changes for the format.
“I played my last over the board event in February 2020 (at the Aeroflot Open).
The switch from playing blitz and rapid games to classical will be slightly difficult but I am prepared for it. Practising with Praggu also will help,” she added.
