World Rapid Chess: Heartbreak for Humpy, Carlsen is king again

< warm> young new delhi: Koneru Humpy has been the flag-bearer of amerind women’s chess for two decades and on Sunday almost crowned herself the FIDE Women’s World Rapid champion for a third time, by defending the title in Doha, Qatar.

However, it was heartbreak for the 38-year-old grandmaster as a final round draw pushed her to the bronze medal, after Humpy was tied on 8.5 points with Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia and Zhu Jiner of China at the end of the 11 rounds in the Swiss format tournament.

All three had six wins and five draws in an unbeaten campaign until then. As per FIDE rules to rank players with the same score – Buchholz Cut 1, Buchholz and Average Rapid Rating of the opponents – Humpy had scores of 69, 74 and 2335, while Zhu (72.5, 77.5 and 2410) and Aleksandra (71.5, 77 and 2360) were better.

Alexandra, 27, won the title, beating Zhu, 23 in the tie-breaks. She won the first game with white in 45 moves. The second ended in a 65-move draw.

Magnus Carlsen though didn’t leave room for any late hiccups as he won the Open title for the sixth time. The Norwegian five-time classical world champion took a full-point lead into his 13th and final round, against Dutch GM Anish Giri, sealing the title with a draw.

Humpy dejection

It was a sense of déjà vu for Humpy. The 2019 and 2024 champion – she was runner-up in 2023 – has been a picture of consistency in Rapid at world level. But for the second time this year, her victory hope came undone against teenaged compatriots.

Earlier this year, Humpy went into the Women’s World Cup final as the favourite only for 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh to win via the second tie-break game. That Humpy, sealed a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament in Batumi, Georgia was little consolation.

On Sunday in Doha, Humpy went into her final 11th round in joint lead and faced 18-year-old compatriot Savitha Shri Baskar, a familiar foe though it would have raised her hopes of winning and sealing the title. But the Chennai teenager played brilliantly to hold Humpy to a draining 64-move draw.

For Savitha, a rising star, it is a new high. She became a WGM in 2023 and earned her International Master title this year. She won bronze in the 2022 World Rapid, a women’s team silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and a bronze with the women’s team in the 2021 Online Chess Olympiad. Her scalps include an upset win over GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. And Humpy at the 2022 Tata Steel Chess India Blitz event.

Humpy didn’t cash in on a winning position earlier on and could not find a way through in the bishop and pawn ending. Once both players’ ambition of queening was thwarted Humpy shook hands on a draw.

Savitha, who had six wins and four draws, had just one loss. She was fourth after being tied on 8 points with R Vaishali (fifth) and Ekaterina Atalik (sixth).

King Carlsen

The Norwegian maestro showed that he is still far ahead of the rest of the pack with his fourth Rapid title in the last six attempts. There was a 7th round loss to Vladislav Artemiev on Saturday, but it was a mere blip as he reeled off five wins in a row going into the final game against Giri. That came after the statement-making 11th game win over Hans Niemann and then over Turkey’s 14-year-old Yagis Khan Erdogmus.

Russia’s Artemiev (9.5) was second while Arjun Erigaisi (9.5) took bronze, ahead of Niemann (9.5) and Cuban-American Leinier Domínguez (9.5). Nihal Sarin (8.5) was 19th, D Gukesh (8.5) 20th and R. Praggnanandhaa (8.5) 27th.

N Ananthanarayanan has spent almost three decades with news agencies and newspapers, reporting domestic and international sport. He has a passion for writing on cricket and athletics. Read Less ...Read More

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